Wayne Hemingway

Wayne Hemingway and his wife Geraldine built Red or Dead into a clothes label that received global acclaim, winning the prestigious British Fashion Council's Streetstyle Designer of the Year Award for an unprecedented 3 consecutive years in 1996, 1997 and 1998. After 21 consecutive seasons on the catwalk at London Fashion Week, Red or Dead was sold in a multi million sale.

In 1999, having sold Red or Dead they set up HemingwayDesign, which specializes in affordable and social design. The highest profile project to date is The Staiths South Bank, a 800 property mass market housing project on Tyneside where the company are involved from the master planning, the architecture through to the landscaping and marketing. The Staiths has won a series of high profile awards including Housing Design Awards 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 (Commission for Architecture and The Built Environment) audit.

Wayne is the Chairman of Building for Life, which promotes excellence in the quality of design of new housing. He is currently a London Leader part of the London Sustainability Commission. He received an MBE in June 2006 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.

In 2009, he launched the "Starter for Ten" programme in Gateshead, which offers creative businesses the opportunity for rent free workspace to encourage town regeneration. He also started the KioskiosK which similarly offers rent free kiosks for creative start-ups.

Wayne 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. He has written two books, "Just Above the Mantelpiece" in 2000 and "Mass Market Classics" in 2003.