Dame Anya Hindmarch was recognized earlier this year in the King’s Birthday Honours for services to fashion and business, a distinction that caps a career spanning several decades. She launched her business in 1987 by importing a drawstring leather bag from Italy to the UK. Since then, she has established a global luxury brand known for blending humor with high-quality craftsmanship. Her designs often reference art and pop culture, exploring materiality and texture while solving practical problems like organizing personal items.
The designer’s work is characterized by a playful approach to familiar objects. She has created a gold metal clutch shaped like an empty chip bag and accessories mimicking the packaging of favorite brands like Polo mints and Kellogg’s cereal. These designs utilize nostalgia and recognition to forge a connection with the consumer. Beyond aesthetics, her work often carries a social message. A canvas tote bag featuring the Magritte-inspired inscription “I am not a plastic bag” ignited a campaign to reduce single-use plastic bags across the UK.
Playful Activations and Public Art
Hindmarch extends her brand’s playful philosophy beyond retail products into large-scale public installations. For Valentine’s Day 2017, she launched Chubby Hearts, which involved oversized, inflatable hearts suspended above London landmarks. The installation returned in 2022 and expanded to Hong Kong. In 2018, she filled London’s Banqueting House with a large beanbag bed, allowing visitors to view the Rubens ceiling from a relaxed position.
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These activations mirror the tone of her published work. In 2021, she released her first book, the Sunday Times bestseller If In Doubt Wash Your Hair. The collection of memories and advice includes chapters with titles like “Creativity Will Eat Strategy For Breakfast.” Her work consistently emphasizes that design should not take itself too seriously, even when maintaining high standards of creative integrity.
Hindmarch observes that current market trends lean toward “less stuff,” where items must possess meaning and durability. This indicates a significant shift in consumer psychology, where the modern buyer is no longer looking for fleeting novelty but is instead searching for a deeper, almost personal connection to the objects they choose to keep. It implies that the era of fast acquisition is slowing down, replaced by a demand for permanence.
Building a Business on People
When asked about the lessons learned in business, Hindmarch states that in many ways, it is simple. She believes it is all about people and that it is imperative to be positive to succeed. She describes her current creative process as driven by curiosity, noting that she now has an address book of amazing suppliers and a great team to execute ideas. This network allows her to make things happen more easily, though she still seeks to create projects that haven’t been done before.
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The importance of physical retail spaces remains a priority for the brand. Hindmarch opened The Village on Pont Street in London’s Chelsea in 2021. The site functions as a community of stores clustered around the Anya Cafe. To date, The Village has hosted experiences like Anya’s Grotto, a partnership with the Women’s Institute, and The Ice Cream Project. This project featured ice creams and sorbets made with cult food brands like Jaffa Cakes and Bird’s Custard.
Craft and Sustainability
Craftsmanship remains central to the brand’s identity. Hindmarch asserts that craft is design, explaining that it is how a product is made and that this makes all the difference. The design process starts with what can be manufactured and how. Sustainability is also described as core to the brand’s operations, though she acknowledges the difficulties involved.
The brand uses its platform to communicate in better ways and attempts to improve its methods constantly. However, Hindmarch maintains that perfection is the enemy of good. She argues that the industry needs to celebrate each good step and be open about the challenges, noting that the process is not easy. Regarding her damehood, she says it is a wonderful honor that she is still getting used to, and she hopes it shines a light on business, the industry, and the arts.
