Hello, I'm Sarah one of the two founders of the Tribalik brand. If you don't know much about us that comprises of Sarah and Diego, partners in life crime and business. I was a bit apprehensive in all honesty to write anything at all about ourselves. We are quite private people and tend to keep our faces off of our business social media even though our hearts and minds are behind each step we take, each new team member we work with, each product and even each social media post. We prefer to hide behind images of beautiful models, customers and staff. Maybe we should be braver to post more personal content but we aren't there yet. I saw a recent instagram video by one of the founders of Lucy and Yak and heard her heartfelt message on running an ethical brand and general stresses of running a fast growing brand and was impressed by her honesty and also so much of what is said rang true. I'm also aware we are nothing without our loyal and new customers, the influencers we work with, our team, our models and muses and so it is important we are transparent about who we are and what we do. 

So before we reveal our recommendations for excellent Christmas presents you can purchase from Tribalik, (which we have chosen as they have been so well received and deeply inspired by our passion for alternative jewellery) we thought it would be helpful to tell you a little about ourselves so you understand where you are buying from and why we have chosen these gifts; our aims, loves and inspirations.

So to start there is the usual of why we created a jewellery brand, you know the score; we met, fell in love, had dreams and existing projects. We love jewellery, we travelled, found inspiration from around the world, came together and joined forces to birth tribalik, started in markets then shops in the UK and Mexico. And a birth it does feel like! It's our love and life and part of our family. We now have two busy North Laine, Brighton shops. Tribalik and Sea Gypsy both on Sydney Street. Tribalik as you know has a lot of body jewellery and clothes in store and Sea Gypsy jewellery clothes and home furnishings. And of course we have our website.

A little personal bit about us: We're spiritual, vegan, party animals on the rare occasions family life or our livers allow! Love yoga, ancient healing and living with love as our truth. We laugh cry and pray together (with some hiccups in between.)

So who are we now. We are a Mexican British couple who are focused on growing our brand, our team and designing and choosing stunning super unique jewellery and body jewellery which isn't seen everywhere. We like to stand out, maybe in life and in business so that is what are aiming for. If you are ready, we are certainly already ready for the next funky cutting edge moda. We produce both body jewellery and normal jewellery. We are leaning more and more towards body jewellery as there is just so much you can do with that. And often people who are willing to modify their bodies are also ready for our exotic pieces so it works well. But half of what we have is jewellery for people who don't have stretched ears or other piercings, maybe they are starting out, maybe they don't want to mess with their meridians and so we love to work with exotic metals stones shapes and designs for these people too. 

I personally have stretched ears a pierced nose, ear piercings and tattoos. Like everyone i go through phases with body jewellery, stretching my ears up and down, getting new piercings. I wore plugs and tunnels for ages and now I am having a break from stretching and am REALLY loving ear weights. I love what you can do with them, how you can wear them, how chunky urban and funky they feel in my ears. I no longer know what size I am. So this inspires lots of our collections. I also LOVE chunky nose studs for my curvy nose. What next.... i like the idea of a tragus piercing, especially after producing our gold threaded ends collection.

They just look beautiful on everyone. I wear gold brass or gold plated. I feel this complements my blond hair. I rarely leave home without earrings and never take out my nose stud. I would feel beyond naked. I love dressing up and wearing makeup but for real, jewellery is my thing.

Diego my partner in all meanings of the word is a tattoo man, maybe has an obsession but he loves them, is covered in them and is so inspired by tattoo artists, tribal art and jewellery from around the world. He really knows his stuff. He used to have stretched ears now he goes for more simple earrings, rings and cuffs.

We are a family brand, we love our staff, customers and family involved in the process. We ensure everyone working with us or for us is paid fairly and as much as possible are involved in the creative process. That is at times hard, but we are constantly grateful and honoured by the part our team makes in the whole company and we work together beautifully most of the time. When you buy online you will hear from Diego, Neni, Mara or myself and they will be the ones packing your orders.

You may notice we talk a lot about Veganism. We have jumped on the vegan bandwagon, going on three years now, even Mara and Neni who work with us online are vegan. We do sell some bone and horn products which are bi-products. That means the animal wasn't killed for those parts it was killed for meat or skin and rather than throwing away those parts we bought them and made them into jewellery. Which is gentle, organic and natural to use in body jewellery. However, as of our year ago we decided to commit to no longer buying any animal product or bi-product so our brand will eventually become fully vegan. 

Ethically we have reduced our carbon emissions and plastic use. See my blog post on plastic anxiety and the planet. Our shops are powered by the wind and sun, the packaging is almost all biodegradable plastic or recycled and compostable boxes and envelopes. This costs us triple our previous packaging costs but feels much more sustainable to the planet. We aren't 100% perfect but small steps and constant revisions and pledges and we'll all get there if we intend to. (Gotta be hopeful, it's so important.)

What more for the brand. Well I'm 40 next year and Diego isn't far behind. I know our age and love of funky fresh fashion will continue to inspire our collections and will just get even braver, wiser and more glamorous with time. We are wanting to do new photoshoots reflecting a wide variety of humans, different sizes, looks, fashion. Maybe a more urban street shoot? Any collaborations do get in touch. We are also hoping to keep working on our environmental impact. Work on new alternative body jewellery collections. Watch here. We are currently about to open shops in new locations.... You are gonna see so much from the Tribalik brand in the years to come.

So without further ado here is our Tribalik list for Christmas gifts 2019. Remember they are small so to send jewellery produces less gas emissions than bigger products plus our offices are powered by natural energy, our team paid fairly AND our packaging often plastic free! Beautifully packaged and ready for Christmas so you need not rewrap.

Silver lasts forever, isn't throwaway fashion and nowadays often comes from recycled reworked silver so it more ethical. I LOVE THIS RING! It just looks gorgeous on and so is the perfect unusual ring for someone who likes a gothic statement piece of jewellery this Christmas. Remember size wise you can drop some hints for the receiver to get their size, or you can exchange this for the right size. 

This belly bar is so unique, is stainless steel body and carefully crafted silver and opalite. Looks beautiful on.

I just love these earrings. Silver earrings inspired by branches, i mean what more needs to be said. Unique as you like.

These delicate little hoops are so loved and the way they move with movement, they just shimmer along. Stunning yet simple

This ear weights for stretched ears are unisex and quite pirate like i just LOVE them on anyone funky enough to handle them. 

These are possibly my favourite ear weights, like a slice of heaven. Sorts out any outfit to be honest

What more could anyone want but a stunning 14k solid gold septum ring. These are the most desired of septum rings and we can't recommend their beauty and durability enough.

These are from our new collection and are just stunning. Quartz crystal ear weights for sizes 2mm and above.

This ring is adjustable and a stunning collection from our Thai Hill tribe silver, fits any size

Thanks for reading our gift guide and learning more about who you are buying from. It's almost important to know who we are.

Our last Christmas Postage dates are here. Always ship tracked for Christmas gifts as it is faster and more insured. If you have any questions or what to work with us on any of our projects do get in touch. Remember you are buying from a small family business so Mara, Neni, sarah or Diego are happy to help you with any gift ideas  questions you should have. Alternatively you can always buy a gift card here.