Anna Bones

Anna Bones is a shibari educator in London and a co-founder and owner of Anatomie Studio. According to the studio’s team page, her involvement with shibari began in 2013, and two years later she and Fred Hatt opened Anatomie together. According to her teacher biography, rope grew from a side interest into her full-time work, and she has taught and performed internationally.

Anatomie Studio

The studio’s own history says it began in June 2015 in the founders’ home and in 2018 moved to a railway arch in Peckham; her teacher biography calls it the UK’s largest and first full-time shibari space. The Horse Hospital, introducing a planned talk by her in 2022, said it was first meant as an easy entry point for women who came to rope and kink without a partner, and that it later became a leading center of shibari teaching. In a 2019 Time Out London interview she described the space as a welcoming first point of entry to the kink scene, with rope jams twice a week drawing 30 to 80 people. The studio credits her and Fred Hatt with creating Discover Shibari, its series of four foundational courses that runs from a first beginner course to full suspensions and transitions; the courses are taught by instructors from the studio team.

Practice and teaching

Her biographies describe her as interested in every side of rope: self-tying, being tied and rigging. Her team profile says she sees herself as a rope bottom who also ties, and as a rigger with a shy streak; her teacher biography adds that being tied gives her the most joy. Her teaching draws on several teachers and styles, and her particular passion is welcoming beginners and starting them on a path of self-discovery. She sees rope as a way to learn about oneself and to build trust and closeness within healthy partnerships.

In the Time Out interview she set shibari apart from Western bondage, where restriction is usually the aim, by stressing the process of tying and the connection with a partner, and said psychological restriction matters more than physical restraint. She also urged newcomers to acknowledge the physical and emotional risks and to research before tying with someone, and said that the London scene had become more focused on consent, accessibility and gender diversity in the preceding years. A 2022 talk she was due to give at The Horse Hospital, on common questions such as whether shibari is art or whether it hurts, was cancelled.