Featured Stockist: YARD, Belgium

My jewellery is now stocked in this lovely shop, YARD (Young Artists and Designers) in Belgium. It is a collective of work by emerging designers - here are a few photos of the boutique and also my jewellery displayed there.

YARD
Diesestraat 204
3000 Leuven
Belgium
www.yard-leuven.com

Build a business from your kitchen table

Recently I received the book 'Build a Business from your Kitchen Table', written by the founders of Notonthehighstreet.com, Holly Tucker and Sophie Cornish. While I was in the PopUp Shop in Richmond I was lucky enough to meet Holly who popped in and said hello! It was great to meet her and I told her how much I loved her book! She snapped a photo of me (I had been reading the book on my commute to the shop every day so it was in my bag) with it. The book is fantastic, it was so interesting to read about how the girls started up Notonthehighstreet (which I sell through) and the advice in the book is so useful. I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to start up their own business!

Seaside

I love creating bespoke jewellery designs for customers and recently I was asked to make some nautical themed shell ear studs and a brooch. It was very fitting considering all of my jewellery is handmade by the seaside in Brighton! The detailing on the shells looked great. If you are interested in having bespoke jewellery made for you please let me know - email me at info@mariaallenboutique.com

Albert Mews Studio Summer Sale

If you're in Hove this Sunday 26th and Monday 27th August come and see the lovely Albert Mews studios Summer Sale!, Three of my very talented friends work from the studio and you can also buy some of my limited edition jewellery and samples!

The proposal...

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a customer to make a very special personalised love letter necklace... to propose to his girlfriend with! When I first created these necklaces, I had secretly hoped that one day someone would use it to propose - I thought it would have been such a lovely, thoughtful way of doing it... waiting for her to open the little envelope and read the message inside! 

So needless to say I was very happy when Terry got in touch! I worked with him to create exactly what message he wanted on there and then waited.... And a few days ago, his lovely Fiance Kate got in touch, thanking me for it and letting me know that she had said yes!!

Kate very kindly told me a little bit about her and her new Fiance (they are both 24 and live in East London, Kate is a womenswear designer for Harrods and Terry is a club manager in the City of London.) and also sent me some photos from their trip to Paris when Terry proposed....

Congratulations Kate & Terry on your engagement! :)

Featured Stockist: Kate Hopwood Jewellery

I thought that I would start a new blog feature showcasing my stockists. The first one that I am writing about is Kate Hopwood Jewellery, a beautiful gallery in Richmond. I recently visited her gallery and took a few photographs of my work in there - I love how it has been displayed. Kate's gallery also features other contemporary jewellery designers' work and is well worth a visit if you are in the area!

Here is the address: Kate Hopwood Jewellery, 11 Brewers Lane, Richmond, TW9 1HH

And website: http://www.katehopwoodjewellery.com

Pitt - Rivers Museum in Oxford

My friend and I had a day out in Oxford last week and we went to the Pitt-Rivers museum. I loved it, it was just full of collections of so many different types of things, on 3 levels. I especially loved the key collection - there were displays of so many different types of objects from different times in history, from all over the world. It was fascinating and inspiring!

 We had to go through the Museum of Natural History to get to the museum, and this itself was great - it was really good to see the animals, birds and butterflies up close and they were amazing colours (see the butterflies and beetles photo!)

Admission is free and if you are in Oxford I'd highly recommend going there! The Pitt-Rivers Museum website is here.

Recent Press

My jewellery has recently been featured in several online magazines and blogs, including 'My Jewellery Life' blog by British Vogue Editor Carol Woolton. My Personalised Love Letter Necklace was also featured on Marie Claire.co.uk's Valentines gift guide and my Eiffel Tower Earrings were part of February's latest arrivals on Cosmopolitan.co.uk.

Alice in Wonderland @ Tate Liverpool

In January I visited Tate Liverpool to see their Alice in Wonderland exhibiton, and also to see their lovely display in the shop. It looked great with handmade cakes (not real ones!) hanging from the ceiling, white rabbits, drink me bottles and little trinkets on display amongst the products for sale. The jewellery range I had created for the exhibition was on a glass cake stand, and I even had a little sign with information about me next to my jewellery!

The exhibition was brilliant and it was amazing to see some of the original drawings and ideas behind the book. It has finished now but I will shortly be adding the wooden Alice in Wonderland themed jewellery to my website.