Keynote SpeakersWayne Hemingway MBE is an award-winning British designer.
With an international reputation for projects encompassing solid community/social content through multi-disciplinary designers, HemingwayDesign is a medium-sized family-owned business focused on place, people and positive social impact set up with his wife Gerardine, who also received an MBE for their award-winning work.
In 2023, Wayne co-founded www.CharitySuperMkt.com, arguably the UK’s hottest retail concept. It removes the stigma from pre-loved clothing, raises millions for charity, and revitalises towns and shopping centres.
Red or Dead:
To understand Wayne’s drive for good design and good business, it’s worth going back to understand how it all started…
Wayne and Gerardine, then 20, set up market stalls in Camden, Kensington Market, and Affleck’s Palace in Manchester, selling second-hand clothes, Gerardine’s handmade designs, and Dr Martens.
The story of a buyer from Macy’s New York turning up out of nowhere and putting in a large order is one in its own right!
With family members and a few second-hand sewing machines, they fulfilled the order and started the infamous and multi-award-winning Red or Dead fashion brand. This led to 23 shops worldwide employing over 300 staff.
Red or Dead was a groundbreaking global brand that won Designer of the Year awards for three consecutive years. They sold the brand in 1999.
HemingwayDesign:
Over the last 25 years, HemingwayDesign has worked with various clients on projects that traverse most disciplines and sectors, including Shelter, Girl Guiding, Social Work England, The National Archive, The National Trust, TFL, St. Modwen, Taylor Wimpey, Argent, Landsec, Southbank Centre, and Media City. The business has also advised over 40 local authorities across the UK.
Always believing that good house building design should never be compromised and can be achieved within budget, Wayne advised the House of Lords select committees, publicly shamed the house building industry, and then demonstrated (by master planning and designing a multi-award-winning housing scheme in Gateshead).
Highlight projects include:
- Leading the coastal regeneration (master-planning) and place-making branding for many towns and cities in the UK (think coastal Margate, Weymouth, Lowestoft, Morecambe, Boscombe, Cleethorpes and others from York to Southend).
- Re-imagining of Dreamland, Margate, Europe’s first-ever pleasure park (shortlisted for Design Museum’s ‘Design of the Year’ in 2017).
- Uniform designs of many large national institutions, including the National Portrait Gallery, Natural History Museum and Royal Museums Greenwich. Collaborated on uniform design with TFL, where it co-designed its new uniform with the input of 16,000 staff, and for the Girl Guiding movement with the largest co-design project known, where 53,000 girls and women have contributed.
- Established several highly successful place-making festivals, including Vintage Festival (Morecambe), Festival of Thrift (Teesside), Festival of Making (Blackburn), First Light (Lowestoft), Classic Car Boot Sale (Kings Cross), Urban Village Fete ( London ) and We Invented the Weekend (MediaCity, Manchester).
- Co-founded CharitySuperMkt.com, the UK’s hottest retail concept, taking the stigma out of pre-loved clothing and raising millions for charity.
HemingwayDesign has tried-and-tested methodologies but is not restricted by a house style or process. Its subjective point of view is considerate of diverse and divergent perspectives. It prides itself on being plugged into the zeitgeist; it understands the cultural context and social issues that affect and shape people’s lives daily.
The multidimensional approach HemingwayDesign takes to all projects results from years of design experience and a highly motivated team that shares their expertise and lessons learned.
Wayne Hemingway – Keynote Speaker:
With a career spanning four decades in the design industry, Wayne Hemingway has many stories and practical lessons to give.
His talks are insightful, thought-provoking, inspiring, often hilarious and always truthful.
Speaking topics include:
- Entrepreneurship
- Regeneration, Housing, Urban Design & Architecture
- Town Centre and Retail Futures
- Purposeful Business
- Sustainability
- Creatively Led Regeneration, Brave and Generous Design
- Design
- Creativity
- Brand Building, Marketing & Leadership
- Social and Cultural Responsibility
Wayne also hosts conferences and award ceremonies, as well as keynote speeches.
