Anya Hindmarch Keynote Speaker

Dame Anya Hindmarch CBE is the founder of global luxury brand Anya Hindmarch, and an award-winning British fashion accessories designer known for her playful concepts and fearless innovation.  She is a keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, sustainability, creativity and design.

In 1987, at just 19 years old, she founded her business which has since grown into an iconic British brand, recognised for its playful, creative and humorous work.  On a mission to reconnect the craftsman and the customer, Anya is widely known as a pioneer of the personalisation trend.  Which, as Anya says, is about ‘having your name on something, rather than mine’.  Projects have included the launch of the ‘Be A Bag’ campaign,  featuring customers’ photographs, as well enabling customers to have their own handwriting and drawings embossed onto handbags.

Anya is dedicated to finding innovative sustainable solutions that drive education and encourage discussion, very much following the mantra of ‘progress, not perfection‘.  In 2021, Anya collaborated with supermarkets to launch ‘The Universal Bag’ designed to rethink the reusable shopping bag. Other projects include the ‘Return To Nature’ collection of bags that biodegrade at the end of their useful life, and the 2020 ‘I Am A Plastic Bag’ project, which crafted bags from recycled plastic bottles to help tackle consumer waste.

The brand is known for its experiential retail concepts and continues to work at the forefront of exciting customer interaction.  In 2021, Anya opened The Anya Village on Pont Street in Chelsea, London, a small “village” of stores to house all their ideas and products. Its Village Hall is at the centre, designed to host innovative concepts, collaborations and exhibitions, and so far The Village has played host to a fruit and veg store, a hairdressers, an alcohol-free off-license, a Christmas grotto and a nail bar.

Anya is dedicated to supporting British design and arts. She is on the Tate Board of Trustees, is an Emeritus trustee of both the Royal Academy of Arts and the Design Museum, and a trustee of the Royal Marsden. In addition to receiving several reputable industry awards, such as British Fashion Awards, in 2017 Anya was awarded a CBE in 2017 for her contributions to the British fashion industry and prior to that, an MBE in 2009.  In June 2024, she has been made a Dame in the King’s Birthday Honours for her services to fashion and business.

In May 2021, Anya published Sunday Times Bestseller ‘If In Doubt Wash Your Hair’. In the book, she shares her stories of success, lessons learnt along the way and inspirational advice, including why sometimes the answer is as simple as washing your hair. Anya received widespread praise for her book, which was described by Grazia Magazine as a ‘charming mix of memoir and manifesto’.