Our Design Champions featuring Product Designers

Wayne Hemingway MBE - Hemingway Design

“Right now there is nothing more apt than the North East having a design centre for the North. Times of recession are also times of opportunity for people who think creatively about the way we live and how we improve our quality of life.

“Design is more than adding some surface appeal to a product. It is much deeper than that. It’s about understanding and capitalising on the changing values in society and how we live our lives.

“And there is no more appropriate a place than Gateshead to do this. It was once the poor relation to this area and people tended to think of Gateshead as the wrong side of tracks, but look at it now. Look what creativity and design has done. Gateshead is now the creative south bank and Newcastle Gateshead has become an international brand.

“My call to arms is that we make the centre a hub of creativity open to all and a catalyst for design becoming inherent in the way we create new products and improve the places in which we live.”

Watch Wayne's Keynote speach at the launch of DNN