Matty Bovan

Based in York, North Yorkshire, Matty Bovan, 32, graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2015 with an MA specialising in Fashion Knitwear. His 12-look graduate collection opened the final show, exhibiting his cacophony of sculptural knits, textures and wild, handmade adornments, which earned him the L’Oréal Professionel Creative Award, closely followed by the LVMH Graduate Prize 2015, going on to work with Marc Jacobs and Miu Miu.

He has worked with various brands, including: British Airways, Coach NY, Gina, Miu Miu, Stephen Jones Millinery, Liberty London, and Barbie, and his work is worn by a loyal fan base, including Adwoa Aboah, Naomi Campbell, Björk, Rita Ora, Shirley Manson, Georgia May Jagger, Winnie Harlow, and Tilda Swinton.

In February 2023, he he showed his Autumn/Winter 2023 Collection with a Presentation at London Fashion Week within the sumptuous splendour of Upstairs at Langan’s in Mayfair.

In September 2022, he presented his Spring/Summer 2022 Collection with a show at Milan Fashion Week that was supported by Dolce&Gabbana.  He regularly shows at London Fashion Week and has previously been supported by BFC NEWGEN, and at the outset, Fashion East.

He received the prestigious 2021 International Woolmark Prize, also scooping their Karl Lagerfeld Award for Innovation, with judge Carine Roitfeld commenting: 'What impressed me about Matty is his capacity to win both awards – for his innovation and creativity - and I really think he deserves it.  He is pure fashion, he makes me dream and he reminds me of a young Vivienne Westwood or a John Galliano, and we desperately need that sort of designer in the fashion world today.'

NOW Gallery’s latest exhibition ‘RIBBONS’ by MATTY BOVAN, opening Wednesday 30 November 2022 within their landmark curvy glass enclosure in Greenwich Penninsula.  A site-specific participatory installation, it presents an immersive exploration of the York-based designer’s textile-rich work, which is always underpinned by raw craft. The celebrated designer has been awarded this year’s NOW Gallery 2022 Fashion Commission, which gives fashion designers a remarkable opportunity to explore creativity beyond the garment and create their own world within the multi-faceted gallery expanse.

He recently launched a book at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, encompassing the resulting imagery from his 2021 exhibition within their Bothy Gallery entitled Matty Bovan: Boomerang, which questioned the construction of identity, authorship and ideas of personal ‘brand’ in the age of social media. He has previously collaborated with artists Rory Mullen and Adam Leach to create a fully immersive installation comprising video projections, live performance and sculpture, within the Leeds room at the London Design Biennale at Somerset House. Entitled 'Just/Unjust', it was inspired by a carved wooden chimney piece depicting the 'Dance of Death' in The Red Drawing Room at Burton Agnes Hall, an Elizabethan Manor House near his home and studio in Yorkshire.

In September 2022 he was also made a Professor at Leeds Beckett University.

Matty Bovan Studio is dedicated to a sustainable ethos employing a tight network of British manufacturers and local craftspeople. Yarns hand-dyed in-house in small batches, ensure minimal water use, then farmed out locally to knitters in York, who finally return them to the studio to be hand-painted.  In-house knitting is a combination of domestic knitting machine using the punchcard technique, and hand-crochet, with no electricity used in the process.