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Life stories and career highlights from the design world

Wayne Hemingway

Wayne Hemingway MBE

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Co-founder of Red or Dead and HemingwayDesign and one of Britain’s most acclaimed designers with global success

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About Wayne

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Our keynote speaker Wayne Hemingway had a colorful upbringing and got interested in creativity, arts, and design from an early age. Wayne is a well-known name in the fashion and design world, and he talks about housing, urban design, education, and the creative sector. He is also available as a host for any relevant awards shows or events.

Speaker Wayne Hemingway has been in the fashion and design industry for four decades, and he has quite a few stories to tell. Wayne started his career when he and his childhood sweetheart, now wife, Gerardine, started selling their old clothes in Camden Market to earn a few bucks. To their surprise, it went well. Actually, it went very well, and a couple more stalls and a store later, the first collection for Red or Dead was created.

Red or Dead became a global success and the brand even won the prestigious British Fashion Council’s Streetstyle Designer of the Year Award in 1996, 1997 and 1998. In 1999, Wayne and his wife sold the brand and proceeded on to a new project: HemingwayDesign which specializes in affordable and social design within housing, interior, workspace design and fashion.

Wayne actually has an educational background in Geography and Town Planning at University College, London, which has later become very useful. 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.

As a speaker Wayne Hemingway is very insightful and honest. His keynotes are entertaining and inspiring whether he is talking about his life story, career highlights, architecture or brand building. Below are examples of some of his keynote topics.

See keynotes with Wayne Hemingway MBE

    Keynote by Speaker Wayne Hemingway

    Wayne’s Life Story

    • In this inspirational keynote, Wayne shares his life story and the ups and downs he had to go through to get to where he is today.
    • The audience will get insights into his past and present and feel motivated to follow their dreams and work hard while being entertained!
    • Wayne’s fascinating story is both thought-provoking and funny, and his inspiring approach to life comes across naturally in his presentation. This keynote is perfect for an after-dinner event!

    Keynote by Speaker Wayne Hemingway

    Wayne’s Career History

    • In this keynote, speaker Wayne Hemingway shares his secrets to a successful career in design and fashion.
    • Wayne’s points on how creativity can have social and societal impact while enhancing the bottom line are eye-opening and provide real takeaways for business owners, employees and students.

    Keynote by Speaker Wayne Hemingway

    Brand building, Marketing and Leadership

    • In this fascinating talk, Wayne explores the contrasts and synergies between building Red or Dead in the 80s, before the internet and building today’s brands using social networking/digital marketing.
    • This thought-provoking and insightful keynote is perfect for entrepreneurs, leaders and marketing teams.

    Keynote by Speaker Wayne Hemingway

    Regeneration, Housing, Urban Design and Architecture

    • HemingwayDesign have delivered a number of high profile and award-winning affordable new build housing schemes, great urban design and architecture.
    • Inevitably, Wayne has great knowledge about new trends and the impact design has on our well-being and economy.
    • The audience will get incredible insights into upcoming trends and the state of the industry.
10.15.2014

Interview with Wayne Hemingway MBE

What is the message you hope people take away from your presentations?
That it is possible to achieve real change through questioning, hard work, innovation and strong messaging. That there are no class, race or educational barriers to  being successfully creative and entrepreneurial and that anyone can make a difference. That design matters and is a force for good.

How are your keynotes unique?
The keynotes have strong political messages, life affirming stories and wit…wonderful imagery and films!

Who or what is your biggest source of inspiration?
There are so many things in life that can be improved from simple everyday objects, to housing, cities and even festivals…and creative minds can question and help to force along improvements.

Can you explain briefly what the social design industry is all about?

Two lines from the HemingwayDesign website:

  • We focus on affordable and social design, with a core philosophy of aiming to “improve things that matter in life
  • We believe that design is for the common good and that design thinking can help to solve most challenges that society faces.

What advice would you give young people hoping to enter the design industry?
There are many talented young designers out there but talent alone is not enough. The best designers are driven, have an ability to really work very hard indeed, always strive for perfection on every project, can achieve “closure” on a project, know when to accept failure and move on and above all are decent human beings, team players  who can get along with manufacturers, suppliers, retailers…the team that gets the idea to market.

What is your favorite thing about your job?
That it doesn’t feel like a job…its life…the end of day work bell will only sound when I am too old to work.

See keynotes with Wayne Hemingway MBE
Non-binding request for Wayne Hemingway MBE

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Keynote topics with Wayne Hemingway MBE