A DESIGNER who cut her teeth working with Mayan jewellers in Mexico is celebrating after winning a hat-trick of awards.

Posh Totty Designs won Fastest Growing Business and Creative industries as well as the Judges’ Award for the Best Business at the Brighton and Hove Business Awards – held in association with The Argus.

In just ten years Alice River Cripps has built up the business from a one-woman band, to an operation employing 39 staff across three sites in the city.

Named Posh Totty after a nickname given to Alice while working at a chicken farm, the company has a number of celebrity customers including Notting Hill director Richard Curtis and broadcaster Emma Freud.

The company is preparing to announce a collaboration with a star of the television show Made in Chelsea.

Despite her business success, Alice was gobsmacked to pick up three awards at the ceremony at All Saints Church on Friday.

She said: “I was incredibly surprised. I don’t think anyone really knew who we were at the start of the night.

“After winning the first two awards I switched off. Then they said our name, and I was like ‘Oh my God’. I hadn’t even prepared a speech.”

The judging panel, which was chaired by Argus editor Mike Gilson, was impressed by Posh Totty’s sustainable growth and unique offer.

Eschewing fashion trends, Alice was one of the first designers to hand-stamp personalisations and specialise in keepsakes.

Other big winners of the night included Stelfox, which for the second year in a row won the award for Best Place to Work.

Meanwhile Nick Mosley, managing director of the Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival, was named Outstanding Brightonian for his contribution to food and drink in the city over the past ten years.

And Organic Roofs took home the award for The Best Environmental Industry Company.

Other big names included Brighton Fringe which won The Best Event in the City, Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival for The Best Customer Service and The Sealife Centre, which was named Best Place to Visit for the second year running.

Individual awards were presented to Andrew Mosley of The Grand hotel for MD of the year.