Our Eco Wishlist

Our November wishlist is here and it's all things eco. Our impact on the environment is incredibly important to us here at Maria Allen Boutique and here are a selection of companies and products that share our passion for sustainability and style:


1. Sister & Co. - Glow Set, £44.95
Sister & Co create unique skin & body products using raw and active superfoods from around the world. The base to the products is extra-virgin organic coconut oil, cold-pressed at a small organic farm in Kerala, India.



2. Matt & Nat - CHANDA - GRAVEL - £95
Matt & Nat which stands for Material & Nature are a vegan brand committed to using no animal-based materials in their designs. Their huge collection of bags and purses are innovative in sustainability using recycled nylons, cardboard, rubber & cork. The linings of their bags are made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.






3. Maria Allen Boutique - Wooden Triangle Necklace - £30
Maria Allen Boutique is committed to using only reclaimed and sustainably sourced wood in their extensive collection of jewellery, accessories, gifts and homeware. Much of the wood is reclaimed from the local Sussex area, close to their studio in Brighton.




4. Kowtow Clothing (New Zealand) - Trace Dress - $195
Kowtow is a New Zealand clothing brand using only 100% organic fair trade certified cotton. Their simple and minimal designs certainly don't come at cost to their factory employees in Kolkata India, who receive a living wage, pension, free transport, medical insurance and free schooling for their children. The company also sponsors projects such as Girls Education, Cow Shed and Cow Donation programmes in local farming villages.




5. Cred Jewellery - Hex stacking bangle, £95
Cred Jewellery established the first transparent supply chain of Gold and Platinum from Oro Verde in Columbia, and were the first jewellery company to pay social premiums for Ecological Gold. They use 100% recycled silver and fair trade certified gold.




6. H&M CONSCIOUS - Satin maxi dress £29.99
As well as ensuring that every worker at their factories and supply chains earn a living wage, H&M introduced their Conscious line in 2012, bringing clothing made from conscious materials such as recycled wool, hemp and organic leather to the high street. 



7.  Elephant Branded - Laptop Case, £30

Elephant Branded have a clear mission, to make a positive, long term, sustainable change to the communities that produce their products and the children that receive their school kits. For every one of their ethically made bags sold the company gives one ergonomically designed school bag and kit to a child in Africa or Asia. The company is also committed to ensuring that their employees learn valuable skills that permit them to have a sustainable and effective way to get out of poverty.




8. Green People - Limited Edition Facial Care Gift Collection Owl, £15.95

With a promise to never use aggressive ingredients, synthetic chemicals or to test on animals, Green People's mission is to be Britain's favourite ethical skin care company. It's hard not to love their new woodland gift collections which donate 30p to the Woodland Trust with each sale.




9. The People Tree - Happy Cats Tee in Eco White - £30.00
People Tree is recognised as a pioneer in Fair Trade and environmentally sustainable fashion. For over twenty years, People Tree has partnered with Fair Trade artisans and farmers in the developing world to produce ethical and eco fashion collections.



Personalised Corporate Gifting

Christmas is a great time of year in our studio, spirits are high, the biscuit tin is always full and we love making, packing and sending so many sentimental christmas present.

We know that Christmas is also a great time in so many other businesses, but understand that what can make it a little more stressful are those corporate and employee gifting decisions. Why not do away with generic corporate gifts this Christmas and allow us to help you give your clients and employees impressive personalised and eco-friendly gifts to be cherished.

We offer personalised corporate gifting options across our full range of products and are always happy to discuss creating bespoke designs to fit your specifications.

Whether you are looking for corporate gifts to give to clients or products to gift to your employees, we can create jewellery, gifts and accessories that are tailored to you and your business.

We can create products using your logo, a specific design you have created, personalised messages or we can work with you to develop something suitable.

With both laser cutting and assembling done in house, we are able to provide a very fast turnaround for samples and orders. We are able to make products in any quantity and there are no minimum orders.

Please get in touch if you would like to find out more about our service and what we can offer you and your business: email info@mariaallenboutique.com or call us on 01273 748868







Vegan cookery class

Last month Maria attended a plant based cookery class in Brighton run by Paula from Titbits catering. Paula kindly, and somewhat bravely, opens up her home to budding bakers and vegan cooking fanatics, hosting the classes from her own kitchen in the Lewes Road area of Brighton. The classes are small and offered twice a month, each time with a different theme. Maria's class was aptly themed 'Budding Bakers' and here's what she made:

"Our class was a small group of 4 which was great and it was suitable for all levels - we baked so much and then everyone took home the food we had left over.

We started off making individual Leek and Mushroom pies (from scratch, including the pastry) and then had them for lunch along with some amazing salads. We had a potato salad and a beetroot, apple and pecan salad which filled us up and kept us going whilst we baked for the rest of the day! All of the food that we made was vegan / plant based."



Individual Leek and Mushroom pie with potato and beetroot, apple and pecan salad




 Sweet scones and Sundried Tomato and Rosemary Muffins


Chocolate Brownies

Victoria Sponge cake

Gluten free chocolate chip cookies


"We also made some amazing bread rolls which I sadly didn't have chance to photograph. All in all it was a great day of social baking and and everyone involved had a lot of fun. We all received a copy of the recipes to take with us so I now have several new ideas to try out at home! I have since taken several of Paula's classes and would highly recommend them!"


You can find out more about the cookery classes and how to book here.

Paula also runs a pop-up restaurant every Friday night in the Hanover area of Brighton which you can find out about here.

Happy baking!




Our exclusive collection for Harrods

Back in January we were asked by Harrods to design an exclusive collection of wooden Christmas decorations for their luxury Christmas department.

We were extremely excited by the opportunity and after much sampling decided on 11 intricate and fun decorations along the themes of Luxe Lodge and Magical Marionettes. 7 months later, and after a lot of hard work from our team, our designs became available to the public at the end of August! 

We take a visit to the wonderful knightsbridge store to visit the designs:

Above: Colourful and woodland themed displays in the luxury Christmas department


From top left: Solid walnut wood baubles in choice of three shapes // our decorations on display // Woodland lodge bauble // Christmas jumper decoration
From top left: Preparation in the studio, making, boxing and bowing our wooden fox decorations // Solid walnut wood decorations ready to pack // Snowflake and woodland scene baubles // Stag baubles ready to box

In all we created over 1000 wooden baubles and christmas decorations for Harrods. Our favourite design has to be the christmas jumper decoration, the concept is fun whilst the detailed cross stitch etching gives a stylishly scandinavian appearance.

You can view (and buy!) all 11 designs exclusively at Harrods in the run up to Christmas, for more information visit www.harrods.com or stop by the Knightsbridge store at 87-135 Brompton Rd, London SW1X 7XL.

For more information about our bespoke design service and what we can do for you please visit our website here.