Our Story

Alice Rivers-Cripps

"Our brand values focus on three core elements of personalisation: honesty, empowerment and positivity. In the vast consumer culture of today's throw-away society it's important that we feel part of a meaningful process. We believe that a purchase should hold significance for our customers, and continue to do so for years to come."

How it all began

'My name is Alice Rivers Cripps and I started my business in 2004 after returning from living in Mexico. Fresh out of university and uncertain of what the future held I embarked on a soul-searching trip to Mexico with only $60 in my pocket. With little more than a yoga mat for a bed and the stars for a ceiling, I managed to find work with a group of local Mayan jewellers. Here I was taught the basics of jewellery making, which planted the seed for my future career. After nearly two years I finally earned enough money to pay for a flight back home to the UK.

Upon arriving back, full of inspiration, I decided to further develop my new found skills and dedicated all my spare time to learning and making jewellery - initially, working from a tiny cupboard under the stairs. It was sheer serendipity that lead me to experiment with alphabet steel stamps, an off the cuff purchase I made whilst rummaging in a junk shop one weekend. I started out by stamping my own name onto tin cans until I finally refined the process enough to stamp onto silver. It was an unconventional process that had never been done before.

The notion that each piece of jewellery could be so unique and personal to the wearer was what propelled me to continue with my making; and in time, friends and family started to request personalised pieces. Be it a newborn's name and weight, a couple's wedding date or a father's last words, the sentiments were unlike fleeting fashion pieces and actually had real meaning behind them. Making keepsakes that immortalise special moments in time is something that I felt a huge privilege to be a part of, which still holds true to all of us at Posh Totty Designs today.

Posh Totty Designs Jewellery Workshop

Fast forward 13 years, I now live with my husband and two young boys in diverse, creative Brighton. Fuelled by my passion to make gift giving have real meaning, I have managed to grow Posh Totty Designs into a destination company for personalised gifts. We're proud to say that PTD now runs the largest jewellery workshop in the south and employs a predominantly female team of 50 fantastic staff (including my mum and husband). We have three shops in Brighton (offering same day personalised jewellery service) and our newest shop in Islington, London. It's very busy but I love what I do. Every new design is still worked on by me, and every order is made very much in the same way as I started; handmade and hand-stamped to order.

Posh Totty Designs Jewellery Workshop

Worn By

Celebrity clients include Sir Richard Curtis, Emma Freud, Davina McCall, Holly Willoughby, Miranda Hart, Vanessa Redgrave, Rachel Stevens, Lulu, David Cameron, Dermot O'Leary, Emma Bunton, Alexa Chung, Amanda Holden, Zoe Ball, Jimmy Fallon, Coleen Rooney, Dawn O'Porter, Fearne Cotton, Rachel McAdams, Zoella and Lauren Laverne.

Alice Rivers-Cripps

Our 'Yes' Mantra

We don't stand still for long at Posh Totty Designs and seldom say no to trying new ideas that excite us!

Collaborating with the charity Women for Women International

Alice visited war-torn Kosovo and conducted business skills workshops as part of the charity's programmes, for women affected by war. Alice then worked with the jewellery team to design a necklace that represented Posh Totty Design's collaboration with Women for Women International, with 100% of the profits of sales from the Share A Hug Necklace going straight to the charity. For more information about Women for Women International click here

Posh Totty Makes - Jewellery Classes & Macrame Workshops

For years we've dreamed of promoting our handmade values by teaching craft classes. That's why last year we decided to launch Posh Totty Designs Makes, fun evening workshops where we teach a variety of crafts, from our very popular silver ring making workshops to our fashionable macrame classes. Already this year we have collaborated with and run workshops at Stylist Magazine and Topshop, both to tremendous success. View our classes coming soon

Jewellery Concessions

Topshop was so impressed that they gave us a permanent space in their stores for our 'Pop Up Personalisation Station', where you can personalise stylish items of jewellery while you wait. For more details on our Personalisation Station click here.

Handmade & Personalised Jewellery in Brighton

Watch the video below to discover our unique methods of jewellery making and hand-stamping. Our head jewellers take us through the process of making a Personalised 9ct Gold Russian Ring Necklace, one of the most popular pieces from our 9ct Gold Collection.