After accusations were made against her, the owner of a pottery business that serves Hollywood celebrities has cancelled plans to create a second facility.
In the affluent Back Bay area of Boston, Allison Carroll, 46, is the owner of Rainbows Pottery Studio. The place is filled with delightful hand-painted window displays, vibrantly painted ceramics, and frilly décor.
Celebrities including Zendaya and her fiancé, Tom Holland, have visited the studio and posed for photos with Carroll in front of the company. Additionally, actor Chris Evans has been seen wearing studio-made Avengers-themed clothing.
However, since accusations against Carroll were detailed in a Boston Globe article in February, she has been embroiled in controversy.
Carroll is accused of hiring a sexual offender, creating a hostile work atmosphere, harassing customers, and making fun of a former employee’s sexual orientation.
When contacted by the Boston Globe, Carroll refuted the accusations, claiming that the remarks she is said to have made were “doctored.”
According to reports, accusers used screenshots of text messages to support their allegations.
Carroll’s intentions to open a second studio in Nantucket in April have been postponed.
Due to criticism over accusations, Allison Carroll, 46, owner of Rainbows Pottery shop, has decided not to open a second pottery shop on Nantucket.
Carroll’s company, Rainbows Pottery Studio, is situated in the affluent Back Bay area of Boston. Zendaya and Tom Holland, who are shown with Carroll, have been there.
Chris Evans was spotted holding pottery from the studio with an Avengers motif.
The businesswoman had leased space at 1 Cambridge Street, a skyscraper located in the heart of the city. However, Carroll told the Nantucket Current that Mike Cotton, the property’s owner, received “countless emails” advising him not to permit the studio to open there.
“After the numerous emails they received from purported community members, we jointly decided it wasn’t a good idea to move forward for the safety of the property and my family,” she told the site.
“This was my life’s ambition, and it’s devastating not just for my family and me but also for the community, who would have loved what we were going to bring.”
Ethan Stoehr, a former employee of Carroll’s, told the Globe that Carroll sued him in court in 2024 after accusing him of stealing and demanding his $670 pay cheque.
Stoehr also disclosed text messages that Carroll and her daughter, Maggie, who works for her mother’s business, sent him in a January TikTok.
“Ahahha shut up fata**, nobody wants to hear you speak ever,” Maggie allegedly texted. There is overlapping skin everywhere, so be sure to wipe it. We are all aware of how perspiring that p*** is. We noticed it on your ugly forehead. I wonder what’s inside that fat, repulsive, jiggly a**.
Later, Carroll shared a Salt Bae gif that appeared to mock Stoehr’s sexuality by editing Nusret Gökçe to have fairy wings. “Ethan!!!!!!!” was her caption for the gif.
“How’s your p***y holding up you f**?” Maggie retorted.
Ethan Stoehr, a former employee, said that the owner accused him of stealing and brought him to court, and that Carroll and her daughter made fun of his gay orientation.
Despite the vibrant and welcoming interior design, previous patrons reported negative experiences.
Customers were also the target of the alleged harassment. In January, Madison Parrott reportedly heard Carroll reprimand an employee as she was celebrating her birthday at Rainbows.
According to The Globe, Parrott stepped outside with the employee and informed her that Carroll shouldn’t be speaking to her staff in that manner.
The 26-year-old wrote a one-star review after Carroll confronted her outside and forbade her from returning to the studio.
Before Carroll replied, Parrott’s boyfriend allegedly texted her about their encounter.
She allegedly messaged, “Does your prostitute need a box of tissues?” “Let me assume that being a missionary is your favourite job.”
According to The Globe, she then requested that Parrott take down her negative review “before I teach you a big lesson in life.”
Wendy Ji told The Globe that she visited Carroll’s firm in 2021 and left a one-star review following a terrible experience attempting to arrange for the pickup of their ceramic items.
The woman took to TikTok to beg people to “hold this lady accountable for her action” after Carroll responded to her Google review, claiming Ji had made “derogatory” remarks.
According to reports, Carroll (pictured) brought Wendy Ji, a former client, to court, accusing her of threatening her and filing charges after she posted a one-star review.
Around October 2024, Zendaya (right, in white) was spotted having fun in the studio.
After Carroll sued her for $75,000 for emotional distress and claimed Ji had threatened to have a “gang member kill her and her family,” she began to regret the video.”
After Ji removed her video and apologised to Carroll for her critique, the criminal proceedings against her were eventually withdrawn.
Carroll’s employment of and ten-year relationship with Andrew Giampa, a convicted sex offender, may have been the most significant issue surrounding her.
Giampa was accused of harassing several women, including Lauren Hayden, a 32-year-old Texas lawyer who said the sexual offender had threatened to rape and kill her in 2021 while she was a student working at a bakery close to Carroll’s pottery studio.
In 2017, Giampia also entered a guilty plea to assault and battery after touching a woman on the Boston subway. He also violated a restraining order obtained by another woman, which was against the terms of his probation.
Carroll told the Globe that she was not aware of Giampia’s status as a sex offender until criticism started to circulate online in January and that she never saw his inappropriate behaviour.
Additionally, she disclosed to the publication that Giampia was fired in November of last year and that she no longer interacts with him.
Social media reports indicate that the businesswoman still intends to create another satellite studio elsewhere, despite the obstacle she encountered when attempting to open a second site in Nantucket.
Carroll has been contacted by The Daily Mail regarding the second studio.
