Wayne's earliest memories are of his mum and Nan dressing him up as Elvis, a Beatle or Tarzan and being paraded up and down Morecambe pier (evidence available!) or being held aloft in a wrestling ring by his Red Indian father, Billy Two Rivers.  These early child-modeling stints went some way towards influencing the youth who was forever experimenting with styles and cultures and reinventing himself whenever the next big "thing" came along.  Northern Soul was discovered at the tender age of 13, then Disco, Punk, New Romantic and Rockabilly ...... the list goes on.

After spending most of his childhood being "dragged" up in Blackburn, the young and multicultural Hemingway left school with 10 O'Levels and 4 A'Levels.  In 1979 he went on to undertake another "inappropriate" move for a future fashion designer by gaining a Degree in Geography and Town Planning at University College, London.

The move that sealed Wayne's fate was taken to fuel funds for the band that he then played in (he says that he's burned the evidence but we know where it is!).  One day he decided to empty his wardrobe and that of his childhood sweetheart (now wife Gerardine) and took the contents to sell on Camden Market.  The realization that money could be made from fashion suddenly dawned.

After 21 consecutive seasons on the catwalk at London Fashion Week, Wayne and Gerardine sold Red or Dead in a multi million cash sale..

In 1999, having sold Red or Dead they set up HemingwayDesign, which specializes in affordable and social design. The highest profile project is, The Staiths South Bank, a 800 property mass market housing project on Tyneside for  Taylor Wimpey Homes where HemingwayDesign are involved from the master planning, the architecture through to the landscaping and marketing of this groundbreaking project  .Over 400 homes are now lived in and  The Staiths  has won a series of high profile awards including Housing Design Awards (best large project) and Building Magazine's "Best Housing-Led Regeneration Project" as well as a Building For Life and the highest rating of any large scale scheme in a recent CABE audit.

Other housing projects include  a new settlement of 3000 homes in Lothian  http://www.stirlingdevelopments.co.uk/project-calderwood.html and a city centre affordable apartment regeneration in Manchester's Northern Quarter, The Birchin http://www.thebirchin.co.uk/

Working with Taylor Wimpey and Broadway Malyan they worked on the masterplan for one of the first Thames Gateway schemes in Dartford and won against stiff opposition. The "Bridge" scheme is currently in the second phase of construction , first residents have moved in + it continues to sell well. http://www.thebridgedartford.co.uk/

They have worked with West Lancs Council and English Partnerships on a 12 month project to create a new vision and then a masterplan for 60's new town Skelmersdale .Working with Copeland Borough Council and the North West Development Agency, HemingwayDesign worked on a vision for Whitehaven.

 

This summer sees the completion of their renovation and reimagining of the mid century Overstrand in Boscombe 

Their next major initiative in urban design is the working on two significant social housing schemes in Maidenhead and Aylesbury

Other projects include books (his coffee table art book ‘Just Above the Mantelpiece' was published by Booth Clibborn Editions in 2000 and Mass Market Classics was published by Rotovision in 2003) .

Wayne is the Chairman of Building for Life, a CABE (Commission for Architecture and The Built Environment) funded organization that promotes excellence in the quality of design of new housing. http://www.buildingforlife.org/.

He got an MBE in June 06 Queens Birthday List ,is a Professor in The Built Environment  Department of Northumbria University, a Doctor of Design at Wolverhampton , Lancaster and Stafford and a Fellow of Blackburn College (Just call him Prof Doc, Doc , Doc  Wayne Hemingway MA, BSc Esquire).

He is a writer for architectural and housing publications as well as a judge of international design competitions including the regeneration of Byker in Newcastle and Salford in Greater Manchester and the Stirling Prize, Europan and a TV design commentator.

Wayne does talks on housing, urban design, education and the creative sector and is a host of creative industries related awards events.

He does a bit of charity work for the likes of Noise Festival, The Princes Trust (where he was the inaugural Chairman of an initiative to enable disadvantaged young people to work within the fashion industry, Shelter and Traid.)

 

Wayne is the Chair of the South Coast Design Forum http://www.scdf.org.uk/

The latest business is an educational design resource "The Land of Lost Content" which is a world first and has to be seen to be believed   http://www.edu.lolc.co.uk/ . Keep a look out for a range of LOLC products  starting with http://www.surfaceview.co.uk/ and http://www.art.com/

Wayne loves his family and Blackburn Rovers

For further information contact;                        


Email:
Tel; 020 8903 1074
Fax; 020 8903 1076