Anya Hindmarch

Dame Anya Susannah Hindmarch, DBE (/ˈhaɪndmɑːrtʃ/; born 7 May 1968) is an English fashion accessories designer who founded an eponymous company, of which she is CEO. Hindmarch published her first book, If In Doubt Wash Your Hair in May 2021, a Sunday Times bestseller.

Alongside running her accessories brand, Hindmarch holds several other roles: she is emeritus trustee of both the Royal Academy of Arts and the Design Museum and a trustee of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. In 2019, she became a Greenpeace ambassador. She was appointed a trustee of the Tate in 2022. From September 2023 until August 2024, she was an advisor to the Board of Trade. In November 2024, Hindmarch was announced as an ambassador for University of the Arts London.

Hindmarch was born to Michael (a plastics company owner) and Susan (née Cooper) Hindmarch. She attended New Hall School, an independent school in Chelmsford, Essex. In 1986, she went to Florence to study Italian for a year.

Hindmarch launched her label in 1987, when she was 19, inspired by a drawstring leather duffel bag many fashionable Italian women carried. Although the UK economy was in a recession, she was inspired by Margaret Thatcher's entrepreneurial ideas, Hindmarch borrowed some money to import some bags to England, and sold 500 through the fashion magazine Harpers and Queen.

She initially had bags manufactured in Italy, but when the factory started selling bags of her design directly to retailers, she started having her own bags made in Hackney. By 1992 her bags were sold at luxury stores in London, New York, Japan, France and Italy.

In 1993, she opened a small retail shop in Walton Street. From the beginning, high quality materials and workmanship were central, representing a design philosophy which was, and remains "British, humorous and personalised."

In 2001, Hindmarch launched her "Be A Bag" line, a service by which a bag is personalised with a customer's photograph, initially to support a breast cancer awareness group, but subsequently to benefit other charitable causes.

In 2007, Hindmarch launched a limited-edition tote bag with the words "I'm NOT A Plastic bag", using her influence to make it fashionable not to use plastic bags. The canvas totes sold for £5 and were selected by Vanity Fair to be included in their "Oscars" goodie bags.