The Creative Entrepreneur - Wayne Hemingway - May 2026

The Creative Entrepreneur - Wayne Hemingway - May 2026

May, 1 2026


This month’s ‘Creative Entrepreneur’ is no stranger to his many creative pursuits. Like in the Frank Sinatra lyric he did it ‘his way’ – Wayne Hemingway.

Having completed an MA in Fashion at the University of Surrey in 1982 it appeared his path was set for a creative career. He soon instinctively knew how to make money by selling items from his wardrobe and that of his childhood sweetheart (now wife) Geraldine in Camden Market.

The following year they opened a shop in Kensington, London selling Geraldine’s self-clothes. That same year, the very first Red or Dead collection was also created inspired by Russian peasant clothing.

Here he is discussing his rags to riches climb to success -

One of Wayne’s successful cultural events was the well supported Vintage festival which has been running for eleven years now. However last year it was cancelled due to pressure to raise funds needed to match rising costs. The popular event attracts more than 40,000 visitors to the Lancashire seaside resort each year.

Organisers expressed hope in the following statement –

"We hope this is not the end of the festival forever and that the right levels of resources and funding can be secured in the future.”

Wayne shares the origin of how it came to be and the positive impact it has had in Lancashire –

Wayne’s other creative pursuits include –

  • Establishing ‘HemingwayDesign’ in 1999- specialising in affordable and social design
  • Designing the Pure Bug digital radio receiver.
  • Designing beachpods in Boscombe for rent and sale
  • In 2012 HemingwayDesign team transformed heritage theme park
  • In 2014 his company  introduced a new London Underground staff uniform

In 2015 Wayne became patron of The Unite Foundation, a charity providing free university accommodation to young people in the UK from challenging backgrounds.

20 years ago both Wayne and Geraldine were both appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours, for services to the design and fashion industries.

He was made an honorary Fellow of the University of Chichester in 2009. On 25 June 2014, Wayne and Geraldine were made Honorary Senior Fellows of Regent's University London.

You can find the latest information on Wayne at the following website link –https://www.hemingwaydesign.co.uk/

This is a smart creative entrepreneur, who, with his creative connections and the undivided influence of his wife managed to successfully navigate himself through a series of creative pursuits. He soon realised that creating something people could relate to with a measure of fun involved it could continue for many years. Hemingway is also resourceful and discovered that his youthful education served him well to become a well -rounded creative entrepreneur in the modern era.

^Alex Ashworth CCG Content Creator