HemingwayDesign has grown into an award-winning multi-disciplinary creative agency, which originally sprouted from a globally-acclaimed fashion brand that was founded on a market stall in Camden by two young lovebirds who had no idea what they were about to embark on. It’s a tale of unquestionable talent, a good dose of determination, strong values and purpose and just a sprinkling of ‘right time, right place’, and to tell it in its entirety, it’s best to start right at the beginning. Join us for a trip down memory lane – first stop, Morecambe.
1961
It all begins with Wayne and Gerardine, HemingwayDesign’s founders. He was born in Morecambe, Lancashire; she was born 50 miles south in Padiham. They were yet to realise the significance of each other’s existence.
1966
England win the World Cup. This has no bearing on HemingwayDesign’s trajectory, but we like to celebrate this at any opportunity. (4-2!)
1974 Northern Soul was coming into its prime and two 13 year olds couldn’t get enough of it (in separate clubs at this time)
1976
Punk happened. 15-year-old Wayne loved every minute of it.
1981
Wayne and Gerardine finally meet at Angels Disco in Burnley at a Soul night. Love quickly blossoms.
1982
Now living together in London, Wayne blows their rent money on his band. The pair empty their wardrobes onto a small market stall in Camden and are soon inundated with punters. By the end of the year, they’ve got 16 stalls across London, with shipments of second-hand clothing and footwear being brought in from all over the world.
1983
Gerardine opens an outlet in Kensington Market selling her self designed and self-made clothes, stitched from fabric remnants she bought in Blackburn Market. The debut Red or Dead collection, inspired by Russian peasant clothing, is an immediate success and a large order comes in from US department store, Macy’s. A small production unit and Red or Dead shop is opened in Blackburn Lancashire by Wayne’s mum with assistance from Gerardine’s sisters. Red or Dead becomes the first ever retailer to sell Dr Martens as a fashion item.
1984
Footwear becomes a major force at Red or Dead; at first old stock of 1950s and 1960s canvas, then canvas is brought in from the Far East.
1985
Stores open in Camden and Manchester, stocked with a mixture of early Red or Dead clothing, second-hand clothing, retro canvas and Dr Martens.
1986
The first Hemingway child is born. They named him Jack. Stores open in London Soho, selling the first Red or Dead footwear range.
1987
Tilly Hemingway makes her appearance. A store opens in Neal Street, Covent Garden. There are regular queues outside shop due to the success of the ‘Watch Shoe’, as sported by teen band Bros.
1988
The business expands and a design team begins to takes shape.
1989
Red or Dead’s first catwalk collection, ‘Space Baby’ for spring/summer 1990, is shown to worldwide acclaim.
1990
Corey Hemingway is born. Autumn/winter 1990 collection ‘Animals’ launches. The Space Baby wedding dress is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
1991
Stores open in Copenhagen, Birmingham and London Kensington (a 3000 sq ft store made totally from recycled materials). SS91 ‘Shopping’ and AW91 ‘Liberace’ collections are shown.
1992
Store opens in Leeds. Work begins on the concept Dr Martens clothing and accessories. Collections include SS92 ‘Mad in Britain’ and AW92 ‘Spy’.
1993
Further UK stores open, including Thomas Neals in Covent Garden. The Hemingways sign a contract to become the first designer shoe company to advise Marks and Spencer. SS93 ‘Russian Doll’ and AW93 ‘Skeleton’ collections show.
1994
Store opens in Tokyo. Launch of Dead Basic Diffusion range. SS94 ‘Sunflower’ and AW94 ‘Keyhole’ (made by prisoners in Full Sutton Prison York ) collections hit the catwalk. The long-term relationship with both R Griggs Group and Dr Martens results in the Hemingway-instigated and Gerardine Hemingway designed Dr Martens Department Store opening in Convent Garden.
1995
Red or Dead win the The British Fashion Council’s inaugural Street Style of the Year award. Wayne and Gerardine sell to Facia Group. Collections include SS95 ‘Butterfly’ and AW95 ‘Ski’.
1996
Facia collapses. Wayne and Gerardine buy back Red or Dead in a joint venture with the Pentland Group. They win Street Style of the Year Award for the second time. SS96 ‘New York Dolls’ and AW96 ‘Ism’ launch.
1997
Beck Hemingway is born. Red or Dead wins Street Style of the Year for a third time running. SS97 collection is ‘Indian Summer’, AW97 is ‘Geography Teacher’.
1998
Stores open in Prague and Hong Kong SS98 ‘Beautiful Freaks’ and AW98 ‘A Road Movie Across the States’ collections launch.
1999
The Hemingways sell the majority of their remaining shares and step back from day-to-day involvement with Red or Dead.
2000
HemingwayDesign is founded with a mantra of “Design is about improving things that matter in life“. First project: a collaboration with Milliken on a range of flooring known as Comfortable Concrete.
Wayne criticises the mass house building industry with the infamous Wimpeyfication and Barrattification piece in the Independent. The debate continues on BBC’s Newsnight and Wimpey Homes contact the Hemingway’s and the Staiths South Bank 760 home development starts to be designed.
2001
Wayne and Gerardine dip their toes into office design with the major commercial building project for The Institute of Directors, and the groundbreaking design is opened by Tony Blair. The wallpaper range ‘4Walls’ is designed for Graham & Brown.
2002
Wayne celebrates his expansive art collection in the self-authored art book Just Above The Mantelpiece.
2003
Phase 1 of The Staiths, HemingwayDesign’s mass-market housing development with Wimpey Homes, opens and wins Best Large Scale Housing Development of the Year.
2004
Wayne becomes a professor of Urban Design at Northumbria Uni.
2005
Together with Copeland and West Lands Councils, the team work on ‘visions for the future’ for Whitehaven and Skelmersdale.
2006
HemingwayDesign create the wall tile range Wet Tiles in collaboration with British Ceramic Tiles. The award-winning Birchin key worker apartment building in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, built in conjunction with Dwell, opens. The brand Shack Up launches. Gerardine becomes a Doctor of Design at Plymouth University, and both Wayne and Gerardine are awarded MBEs for their services to design.
2007
The Hemingway team research and develop a new festival concept: The Vintage Festival. The range of wall murals with SurfaceView hits the shelves.
2008
Gerardine and Wayne receive honorary doctorates from both Lancaster and Stafford universities. Work starts on two social housing regeneration schemes: Evenlode in Maidenhead and Walton Court in Aylesbury.
2009
Wayne and Jack Hemingway’s ‘This is Sculpture’ exhibition opens at Tate Liverpool and becomes The Tate’s longest-running installation. Wayne is elected a London Leader as part of the Boris Johnson-led London Sustainability Commission and assumes the inaugural chair of The South Coast Design Forum. The first KiosKiosK starter unit is placed outside the GLA. Wayne instigates the creative start-up initiative ‘Starter for Ten’ in Gateshead, which results in The Shed, a Council initiative which provides rent and rate-free workspace to creative businesses. The Boscombe Overstrand regeneration project launches and goes on to win Best Regeneration Led Scheme. Gerardine wins silver medal at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show for her garden for Gateshead Council. Wayne is nominated for Prince Phillip Designer of Year Award. Work begins on the social housing regeneration scheme Hillington Square in Kings Lynn.
2010
The first Vintage Festival takes place on The Sussex Downs, a colossal 50,000 people attend and the event is voted Best New Festival at the 2010 Festival awards. The HemingwayDesign team upcycle a shipping container into a mobile sampling unit for Cafe Direct. Design projects for Sky and Sainsbury’s are completed. Wayne writes. The Dreamland Trust in Margate engage HemingwayDesign to work with them on a vision for Dreamland and to help overturn the then, totally unsuitable plans for housing and a Tesco.
2011
The second Vintage Festival shifts venue to London’s Southbank Centre and proves to be Southbank’s busiest weekend of the summer. HemingwayDesign curate the Museum of 51 as part of the Festival of Britain 60th Anniversary Celebrations. The Vintage paint range launches in conjunction with Crown Paints. Wayne joins the board of trustees for Design Council and DC CABE. Projects with Coca Cola, Tanqueray, Butlins and Nat Mags are completed. The team design the new McDonald’s staff uniform to be launched at the 2012 Olympics, which will be rolled out to over 100,000 employees.
2012
The Vintage Festival has its finest hour yet: the Vintage Guild weekend at Preston Guild 2012 draws in over 150,000 attendees. The Hemingway team co-curate the official Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant Festival in Battersea Park and 60,000 tickets are sold. Following Museum of 51’s success the previous year, Southbank bring HemingwayDesign back first to work on The Festival of The World, then to host A Vintage New Year’s Eve. Plus, a whole raft of design collaborations come to market, including collaborations with G Plan, Antler Luggage, Hush Puppies and John Lewis begin stocking Hemingway and Vintage products across six departments. Wayne writes the article in The Guardian “The High Street is dead ..Lets Celebrate“ which predicts future High Street turmoil.
HemingwayDesign led on the design of the Southbanks Museum of the World exhibition that ran concurrently with the London 2012 Olympics. The project was inspired by the vision of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic movement. Guided by his thinking on the arts, education and cultural history, the festival was a site wide celebration presenting art and culture as a way of bringing people together, showing that it can change individuals, communities and nations.
2013
HemingwayDesign curates Southbank Centre’s Beanotown, a summer-long celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Beano. Vintage By The Sea takes Morecambe by storm and attracts over 7,000 visitors. The Vintage Festival at the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow is a great hit, and A Vintage New Year’s Eve rocks around the clock at Southbank for a second year.
2014
Vintage By The Sea and A Vintage New Year’s Eve both continue to grow in success. The first phase of Hillingdon Square housing project opens. Work begins on the £30m regeneration of Dreamland, Margate, with HemingwayDesign at the creative helm.
2015
A Vintage New Year’s Eve returns to Southbank for a fourth year and Dreamland re-opens its hallowed gates to the public following its incredible restoration. The Festival of Thrift wins National Ethical Award at the Observer Ethical Awards. The Hemingway designed London Transport uniform rolls out across the network and the affordable housing scheme, Evenlode completes and The Classic Car Boot Sale gets off to a wonderful start in its new Kings Cross home. We designed the new offices for Unite Students in Bristol.
2016
The Festival of Thrift moves to Redcar Steelworks, Dreamland wins in the brand identity category at the Design Week Awards and we launch Urban Village Fete – a new placemaking event for Greenwich Peninsula in the form of a contemporary twist on the traditional village fete. Our design team turn their hand to commercial interiors with a new shop fit out for Shelter using recycled materials, we launch a Forbo flooring range, a second collection with Royal Doulton and a product collaboration with the Imperial War Museum. Wayne is appointed Urban Design Champion for Perth and the whole team get into the Christmas spirit by designing the Winter Festival at Southbank Centre.
2017
After the success of Urban Village Fete, we set up SAMPLE as a seasonal market at Greenwich Peninsula to celebrate shopping local, small and sustainable. Our uniform for Virgin Trains rolls out, we’re appointed by Peabody to create a place brand for Thamesmead and we start a long running relationship with Lowestoft by producing a visionary masterplan for Lowestoft South Beach.
2018
The HemingwayDesign instigated National Festival of Making in Blackburn launches along with a supporting arts commissioning programme called Art in Manufacturing. The festival goes on to win Best Non Music Festival at the UK Festival Awards and Visit Lancashire’s Large Tourism event of the Year. The place brand team work in Middlesbrough and the whole team gets involved with St Modwen to refresh their brand as well as designing their offices to create a more productive and flexible workspace.
2019
Our newest uniform design for Greater Anglia hits the tracks and we design a special edition logo for our friends at Dreamland’s 100th anniversary. We work on place brands for Bognor Regis and Berwick-upon-Tweed and win our biggest place brand project to date for the City of York, but no rest for the graphics team with new identities for Social Work England and The National Archives. We add to our masterplan portfolio with a project for Andover Town Centre and start work reimagining Scarborough Harbour. We have a lot of fun with recycled materials doing the interiors for a flagship Shelter Boutique store at the brand-spanking-new Coal Drops Yard in Kings Cross and Vintage New Years eve expands to become London’s largest indoor New Years Eve event. The inaugural First Light Festival brings 45 000 people to Lowestoft beach and sets a new bar for community arts festivals. We partner with Culture Liverpool to create an event mixing business and creativity as it’s never been done before.
2020
Act 1 of the The Good Business Festival morphs into a hybrid live-digital event in reaction to Covid, breaks the mould for digital events and reaches 43 countries. We start a relationship with MediaCity with a place brand and an idea to support the hospitality industry and local creatives with Box on the Docks – which also becomes one of the fastest projects ever, going from inception to opening in a matter of weeks. It’s the year of town centre visions and masterplans with projects in Kidderminster, Newbury, Scarborough and Boscombe. Crewe’s place brand is completed but our relationships there continue with some other projects such as Crewe Market Hall. Our visual identity work continues, developing an identity for the Burnley Empire Trust. We get really good at digital engagement through lockdown which means we can continue with place brands in Basildon and Southend. A brand is created for The Seam in Barnsley and something happens that we never saw coming – a win at the National Carpark Awards for a design close to home in Wembley.