Early life and education

Hemingway is the son of Canadian Mohawk chief and former wrestler Billy Two Rivers. His father left the family and returned to Canada when Wayne was three years old, but the two later resumed contact.

Hemingway's earliest memories are of his mother and grandmother dressing him up as Elvis, a Beatle or Tarzan and being paraded up and down Morecambe pier. His grandfather worked at Grimethorpe colliery as a civil engineer. He lived on Thirlmere Drive and attended Lancaster Road school.

In 1979, he went on to gain a Degree in Geography and Town Planning at University College London.

Work

Hemingway started his fashion career by selling items from his wardrobe, and that of his childhood sweetheart (now wife) Gerardine, in Camden Market.

“

It was £6 rent for the stall and we took £80 the first day. It just took off from there.

”

They proved successful, and by the end of the year they had 16 stalls at the market, with shipments of second-hand clothing and footwear brought in from all over the world.

By 1983, they had opened a shop in fashionable Kensington, London. Selling Gerardine's self-made clothes. That same year, the first Red or Dead collection was also created, inspired by Russian peasant clothing. It was well received and they obtained a large order from US department store Macy's. Red or Dead stores began to sell Dr. Martens work-wear shoes as a fashion item, thus began a range of fashion shoes within the stores.

The couple built Red or Dead into a label that received global acclaim resulting in winning the 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, they sold Red or Dead in a multimillion-pound cash sale. That sale financed Geraldine's design of their house in Chichester, West Sussex. The house cost around £330,000 to build and furnish (in 2005).

In 1999, having sold Red or Dead, they set up 'HemingwayDesign', which specialises in affordable and social design. The highest profile project Homes. the Staiths South Bank, an 800 property mass market housing project on Tyneside for Taylor Wimpey Homes Award has won a series of high-profile awards, including the 2005 Housing Design Award for best large project and Building Magazine's "Best Housing-Led Regeneration Project" and the highest rating of any large-scale scheme in a recent CABE audit. Other major projects include The Bridge Dartford, a development of 1000 designer homes in Kent.

Hemingway has designed beachpods in Boscombe for rent and sale, which raised over £1 million for the local authority.

In 2010, he wrote the foreword to the book 'Cycling in the North of England'.

Hemingway's team organised a new cultural event in August 2010, the 'Vintage Festival'. In 2011, the festival took place at Southbank Centre in London, as part of the 60th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain (held originally in 1951), and again in 2012. In 2013, the Vintage Festival took place in Glasgow and Morecambe. Hemingway said

“

We loved visiting Glasgow when we had our Red or Dead shop on Buchanan Street and have always enjoyed visiting Glasgow's Merchant City.

”

A Vintage New Year was held at Southbank Centre in 2013. October 2013 saw the launch of Vintage presents A Classic Car Boot Sale.

In 2012, Wayne, his wife Gerardine, and the 'HemingwayDesign' team were appointed as designers of the historic and disused Dreamland site in Margate. This included the transformation and branding of the £10m heritage theme park.

In 2012, Hemingway received an honorary degree ('Doctor of Arts') from Leeds Metropolitan University.

In 2014, Hemingway's company introduced a new London Underground staff uniform, initially trialled at several stations and train depots before being introduced company-wide in 2015. In the same year, it was announced he was to become patron of The Unite Foundation, a charity providing free university accommodation to young people in the UK who hail from challenging backgrounds.

Bibliography

Wayne has also written a few design books.

• Kitsch (20th Century Icons), (Publisher) Absolute Press, 2 December 1999, ISBN 978-1899791972
• Just Above The Mantelpiece: Mass-Market Masterpieces, (Publisher) Booth-Clibborn Editions, 22 November 2002 ISBN 978-1861541949
• Mass Market Classics: A Celebration of Everyday Design, (Publisher) RotoVision, 29 August 2003, ISBN 978-2880467340
• Cocktail Shakers Lava Lamps Tuppe,(Publisher) Rockport Publishers Inc, 28 November 2003, ISBN 978-1592530458
• Home Buyer S Guide Counter-pack, The: What to Look & Ask for When Buying a New Home, (Publisher) Black Dog Publishing, 1 July 2004, ISBN 978-1904772125
• Richard Okon: Prefab Publisher, (Publisher) Photographers' Gallery, Nov 2006, ISBN 978-0907879770
• Place to Live (with Geraldine), (Publisher) Quadrille Publishing, 5 September 2011, ISBN 978-1844008193
• The Vintage Fashion Bible: The Complete Guide to Buying and Styling Vintage Fashion from the 1920s to 1990s, (Publisher) David & Charles Publishers, 30 September 2014, ISBN 978-1446304426

Family

Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway were both appointed MBE in 2006, for services to the design industry, in the Queen's Birthday Honours. They live in Chichester, West Sussex and have four children. Jack, 27, is a designer, Tilly, 26, is an urban designer, Corry, 23, is an artist and Beck, 19, is an apprentice professional cricketer. They also have a springer spaniel called 'Minnie'. Wayne still returns to his hometown of Morecambe whilst visiting his mother Maureen, who lives in Garstang.

He is a supporter of Blackburn Rovers and became an Honorary Patron of leading Blackburn Rovers supporters group, The BRFC Action Group in May 2012.

Hemingway has made several appearances on the Sky Sports 2 TV show Soccer AM.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]