Past Designer Awards

Designer Award 2007

On a relatively balmy Halloween evening the shoe trade gathered at the Geffrye furniture museum in the East end of London. It was staged by Footwear Friends, the 171 year old charity, unique to the shoe trade. It was a joint celebration. The Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers were celebrating twenty years of their footwear young manager award, and the Footwear Friends were presenting the prizes for their first Designers Award.

The unexpected magic of the converted 1714 alms houses, filled with period rooms, and the 1998 avant-garde extension by Peter Coates only added to the occasion.

Around 130 gathered to hear the President, Richard Paice, recount the origins of both awards, followed by Richard Kottler, the masterful manager of the winners for the last ten years. Two of the winners, Rachel Alsbury (Puma) and Lucy Bennett (Disney) gave a fascinating account of their careers to date, leaving a very positive impression on the audience.

This was followed by an account by Daniel Rubin (Dune) lead judge of the Designer Award, describing how impressed he and his follow judges, Tim Cooper of OPS, and Adele Clarke, designer, were with the calibre of the entries. He subsequently gave illuminated scrolls to the winner, Alex Bartholomew, and as highly commended, to Heather Blake. They will receive key mentoring from members of the trade for the next six to twelve months. The cost of the prizes was largely covered by contributions from the trade.

With many of the young past winners present, there was a great mix of generations, and all seemed very pleased to see the energy and enthusiasm of the trade going forward. Members of the designer world, bespoke, manufacturing, importing, retailing and press were all there, and there was clearly much catching up going on! The Master and Clerk of the Cordwainers were also there, as were several members of both liveries.

The Chairman of Footwear Friends, Simon Goodman, ended the evening by reading a moving letter from a young beneficiary who wrote to thank the charity for a critical donation which had saved him from becoming homeless and helped restore his determination.