Designs on Blackburn

Fashion designer Wayne Hemingway talks about the success of the National Festival of Making in a new interview.

The festival co-founder and director, who set up the fashion label Red or Dead, also says why his home town of Blackburn was chosen to host the event in the article on the news website Jaded.

More than 30,000 people visited the debut festival in the town centre last year. Following its success, the free celebration of creativity returns on May 12 and 13 with a packed programme of workshops, exhibitions, street theatre, music, talks, markets and food stalls.

Wayne launched Red or Dead on Camden Market in 1982 with his wife Gerardine, who started out making clothes with fabric bought from Blackburn market.

He told Jaded that he knew Blackburn was the right location for the Festival of Making because it is the UK town with the highest percentage of people working in manufacturing.

But he admitted that the success of last year’s festival “vastly exceeded” his expectations and had an impact “around the world”.

He added:

I didn’t realise the public, the community, the media would get behind it so much and also that as a team we are all capable of delivering such a big event on such a small budget.