Biography

Manya Goldman was born in Cape Town, South Africa. She came to London in the 1960's with her family, who were political refugees from Apartheid.

She studied Foundation at Camberwell School of Art. From Camberwell she went on to study Textiles at West Surrey School of Art (Farnham), graduating with a First Class Degree. She continued her studies on the Textiles MA at the Royal College of Art, leaving in 1985. From 1988 to 2000 she was a Senior Lecturer at Winchester School of Art. Manya also studied for an MA in Psychotherapy at the Minster Centre in London and worked subsequently as an Adult Psychotherapist.

Manya has worked in several media including basketmaking, weaving, painting and printmaking before arriving at her present practice working with hand embroidery.

Her recent work has been selected for the Royal Academy Summer Show in 2022 and 2023. She was a featured artist with the Candida Stevens Gallery at Collect in 2025. She won First Prize for Hand Embroidery in the Mr X Stitch Competition in 2023.

Manya lives in Brighton with her husband and children.