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Canadian Society for Creative Leathercraft
1950–2026
CSCL·People·People of the Society·Bill Whittingham
The People

Bill Whittingham

← People of the Society · on record 1987–2003

This is the Society’s own record of Bill Whittingham. A biography: A Profile, 1994 →

The Society’s records

Everything the Society’s own records say of Bill Whittingham: the offices held, the standings conferred, and the awards won. Where the records are silent, so is this part of the page.

In memoriam · 9 September 2018 (b. 1957)

The date is the Society's own notice, canadian-leathercraft-summer-2018-quarterly-newsletter-by-cscl p3 ("In Memory of William Whittingham 1957 - 2018, Date Of Death: Sunday, September 9, 2018").

From Summer 2018, page 3.

Also recorded as Bill Whittington, William H. G. Whittingham, William H.G. Whittingham, William Whittingham

Standing

Society Member 1988–1997

Branch

Mississauga · first recorded holding office in 1988

Certification

  • Associate of the CSCL 1993
  • Fellow of the CSCL 1995

He joined CSCL in 1987. He showed one piece at Leather 2004, the Society's biennial juried exhibition at the Hamilton Public Library, 55 York Boulevard, 2-30 November 2004, with the Toronto guild. His estate later left tools and a bequest to the Society for the benefit of its members. He showed three pieces at Leather 2000: Fifty Years of Leather Art, the Society’s exhibition in the Grand Hall Gallery of the Woodstock Museum, 466 Dundas St., 20 May to 17 June 2000 (Lizard Skin Inlay Belt; Leather Mache Vase; Molded Mask “Serenity”). He won the Society's Executive Award for Most Functional Article at its 1994 Bi-ennial Exhibition, for an inverted-design vanity mirror, and made a square for the CSCL Leather Quilt. The Society's papers print him both as Bill and as William Whittingham (the spring 1995 newsletter credits the same vanity mirror to “William Whittingham” on one page and “Bill Whittingham” on the next), and he signed his articles and his President's letters “William H. G. Whittingham”. He wrote “Leather Mache ‘Pottery’” (2000) and “Inlay Trophy Buckle” (2001) for The Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal (see Members in print).

From Winter/Spring 1995, page 2; Bill Whittingham: a profile of the award-winning craftsman, 1994; 40th Annual Meeting 1990: programme, Elmhurst Inn, Ingersoll, page 17; Leather 2004: Juried Biennial Exhibition, Hamilton Public Library, page 3; Leather 2000: Fifty Years of Leather Art, Exhibition Programme, Woodstock Museum, page 5; Fall 1998, page 2; and Fall 1997, page 1.

Held the Society's professional stamp No. XLV, issued in 1993. The register prints the name “William Whittingham”.

From Register of professional stamps, May 2012.

Served the Society as

  • President 1997–1999
  • Past President 2000–2001
  • 2nd Vice-President 1990–1997
  • Mississauga Branch Projects Coordinator 1988
  • Director 1989–1997
  • Mississauga Branch Program Coordinator 1989
  • Mississauga Branch President 1990–1997
  • Mississauga Branch Membership/Program Convenor/Librarian 1992
  • Chairman, Council of Fellows 2000–2003
  • Chairman of the Council of Fellows 2001
  • Past Pres. 2001
  • Membership 2002–2003
  • Director, Membership 2003

Awards

  • Best in Show 1994, 1995
  • CSCL Executive Award 1994
  • CSCL Judges Special Award 2000
  • Craftsman Ribbon 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
  • Irva Ford Award 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000
  • Irva Ford Award (molded leather) 1995
  • Michigan Soft Leather Award 1998
  • Robert Muma Award 2001
  • Salon Award 1992
  • Salon Ribbon 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002
  • Zalitis Pin 1993

Demonstrations given

Where this comes from

Life and work

From the profile of him written by Olga Dey-Bergmoser.

Work
Looking for an alternative to his retail management career, he applied to the Tandy Leather Company expecting to sell jackets and accessories, and found instead a How-To craft shop. He was hired within two hours of applying, was made manager of his own store after three weeks, and was teaching leathercraft two weeks after that, on five weeks' experience. He ran his own business, Northern Lights Leathercraft, sharing his studio with his two dogs, Amber and Radar. By 1994 his work was produced under that name: soft leather baby shoes, belts, wallets, purses, evening bags, jewellery and jewellery boxes, fridge magnets, glass and napkin holders, leather wine rugs and clocks, intricate Bible covers, and, among his commissions, a leather chess set of thirty-two double-sided figurines based on Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, some inlaid with crystal and shaded with an airbrush. He worked full-time in his own business from April 1994, and that year alone he appeared in twenty-one craft shows across Ontario.
Study
He read thirty-seven how-to books in a month.
Teaching
He went on to teach leathercraft in hospitals, schools, homes for the aged and prisons.
Art
He never took to art at school, and did nothing with it until 1981, when his parents gave him a calligraphy set, which he used to make signs as a video store manager. That was the start of a graphic design business and, gradually, of more ambitious work for his own enjoyment. In 1993 he took First Place in the craft division of the Visual Art Mississauga Valentine Show, for a leather jewellery box.

From the biography “A Profile, 1994”.

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