Our Story

'"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."

About Posh Totty Designs

'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.

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.'

Celebrity Fans

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.

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 progammes, for women affected by war. Alice then worked with the jewellery team to design a necklace that represented PTD's collaboration with Women for Women International, with 100% of the profits of sales from the 'Share A Hug' Neckace going straight to the charity. For more information about Women for Women International click here.

• For years we've dreamed of promoting our handmade values by teaching craft classes. That's why last year we decided to launch PTD 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. Click here to check out our available classes in Brighton and London.

• Topshop were 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.

• We are very excited to have opened our first London shop this year in the eclectic and cool 'Camden Passage' in Islington, with its fabulous mix of independent boutiques and only a stone's throw away from the hustle and bustle of central London.

• We have also just opened our first Posh Tots store - 'a little shop for you and your little ones' - in our original little shop off Bond Street in Brighton (opposite Costa Coffee). Posh Tots focuses on lovely kids toys and clothes as well as our own range of family orientated jewellery. A shop for you and your growing family! Click here to see a selection of products stocked at Posh Tots.

Who knows what 2018 holds in store for Posh Totty Designs?

We've got some exciting top secret projects up our sleeves, so watch this space...

One thing's for sure: it just gets bigger and better!

Handmade & Personalised 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.