Cordwainers Honours Graduate Bags Curriers’ Cup

Alexandra Hamilton - Accessory Designer

Young fashion accessory designer Alexandra Hamilton, who graduated with a First Class Honours Degree in Product Design and Development for Cordwainer Accessories in July this year, has been further honoured by the London College of Fashion.  The 23 year-old student was awarded the Curriers’ Cup for Excellence in Leather Craft by the Worshipful Company of Curriers. 

The prestigious award was made at the London College of Fashion Award Ceremony where Alexandra was presented with a silver trophy and a cash prize.  The award was made by the Worshipful Company of Curriers which works closely with the London College, and supports the leathercraft industry.

Alexandra Hamilton's designs

Alexandra Hamilton’s skills were further recognised by the college.  She was nominated to attend the Beast to Beauty – Leather Today, Tomorrow, Forever’ Conference and Gala Dinner held in Northampton.  Alexandra’s place at the conference was sponsored by joint hosts, Leatherwise Ltd.  The conference and dinner were the culmination of the Centenary of Leather Education 1909 – 2009 celebrations.  As well as having the opportunity to display her work and meet all the conference delegates, Alexandra was also presented with a certificate at the Gala Dinner in recognition of her outstanding achievement and skills. 

In 2007, Alexandra was a finalist in the Cordwainers and Puma Design competition and, in the same year, was the runner-up in the Drapers and Footwear Awards – Student Accessory Designer, receiving a ‘Highly Recommended’ award for her work. 

Alexandra comments, “Receiving the Curriers’ Cup and being selected to go to the ‘Beast to Beauty’ Conference was a great honour.  July has been a really exciting month.  As well as the awards, people have been commissioning my work and I’m hoping I’ll be selected to design and make some accessories for the Covent Garden ‘Fashion Fringe’.  My next goal is to find work with one of the big fashion accessory companies.  I want to have the opportunity to learn more about my craft, and I think winning the Curriers’ Cup and other awards show I’ve got a lot to offer too.”

– ends –

Notes to Editors

Alexandra Hamilton has:
BA First Class Honours Degree (PDDFI Cordwainers Accessories, London School of Fashion)
Diploma in Foundation Studies in Art & Design
Diploma in Professional Studies
Diploma in Surface Decoration and Enhancement of Leather
Level 3 Award in Pattern Cutting and Construction Techniques. 

During her studies, Alexandra’s work experience placements included such well-known companies as Billy Bags, Katie Hillier Ltd, Mimi, and Burberry. 

For more information, images or interviews, please contact:

Alexandra Hamilton

Tel: 07890 657194
Email: a.j.hamilton@btopenworld.com

Broadband Provider has Copywriters Beaming

Pevensey Bay - birthplace of WORD-right!

There’s nothing so controversial as Broadband Service Providers.  If you check out the forums, you’ll see they’re full of complaints and gripes.  That was us too until 2005!   Our broadband was provided by one of the major companies and we’d been with them for some time.  In all fairness, we didn’t have many problems until we moved to Pevensey Bay, just outside Eastbourne. 

Although a lovely place, Pevensey Bay is nothing if not windy and that’s when the problems started!  With every bout of high winds and rain, our connection dropped.  I’m sure we weren’t the only ones affected, but our provider was about as much use as a chocolate fireguard! 

In time, we found out the problem was with the BT infrastructure but, getting our provider to contact BT was a constant battle.  The problem was, if they called out BT and it turned out to be a different problem, BT would bill the provider for the call-out.  When we lost our connection for a fortnight and, despite constant phone calls (to an expensive premium rate number) and countless email ‘tickets’, nothing was done about it, we came to the conclusion they had to go! 

A business contact recommended we speak to Hasting-based company, Beaming.  I was given a phone number and told to phone Stuart.  What’s this … a broadband supplier with a phone number and a real person with a name?  And guess what?  Beaming does have real people, they answer their phones and what’s more, they do amazing things like … phoning you back! 

Needless to say, we’ve been recommending Beaming to everyone who’ll listen, ever since.  Of course we’ve had the occasional problem and lost service, but each time it’s dealt with quickly and professionally.  When we moved back to Chipping Norton, good old BT couldn’t be persuaded to connect our phones, let alone our broadband.  Stuart from Beaming stepped in and helped resolve the problem.  And because Beaming is big on communication, Stuart phoned us regularly on our mobile to give us updates on the progress.

Beaming’s service has been exceptional from day one.  Here’s a recent example of the Beaming customer care … we started to experience problems with our broadband connection one evening.  We tried calling, but didn’t realise Beaming’s technical support line closes at 9pm.  No problem!  We left a message, knowing it would be picked up and dealt with in the morning.  Imagine our amazement when Stuart from Beaming phoned us at 9.45pm … he was at home, but checked his messages before shutting down for the night.  He then went on to check our system from his end! 

That level of customer service deserves a great big bouquet and a sincere thank you to Stuart, Marcus and the rest of the Beaming crew from us here at WORD-right. 

So take it from WORD-right … if your broadband provider is not delivering  that level of service … try Beaming!  You’ll find real people (with names!) who answer their phones and care about their customers.  They’re a rare beast indeed!