Lester Pinter

Lester Pinter's Fellowship entry, submitted by Lauch Harrison FCSCL in 2020, written up for the Fellows who judged him in Hamilton before the 2019 Annual.

A Hungarian cowboy in the Rocky Mountains

Lester was born in Budapest, Hungary, and spent his youth there before his family emigrated to Winnipeg. The Boy Scouts first put leatherwork in his hands, and his college training in dental technology — fine tools, making fine dental appliances — led naturally into fine leather carving and tooling. He later put that same training to work casting the silver conchos and findings for his own saddle and other pieces.

• Born in Budapest, Hungary; emigrated to Winnipeg with his parents as a boy
• Boy Scouts first put leatherwork in his hands; college training in dental technology — fine tools for fine dental appliances — carried over into fine carving and tooling, and later into casting the silver conchos he made for his own saddle
• Moved his wife and three children to Calgary to open his own business, then chose to live out of town on a ranch in the foothills, with goats and horses
• Judged for Fellowship in Hamilton before the 2019 Annual: asked for four pieces, he brought a suitcase of more than ten and let the Fellows choose — a fully rigged and decorated Western saddle, a set of longhorns with decorated mounts, a vest, chaps, spurs and straps, belts, purses and clutch wallets, and a stool seat
• His score of 94.5% was one of the highest seen in many years
• Works in braiding, whipmaking, box construction, lacing, engraving, toolmaking, lost-wax casting, and bone and antler carving

Early on he sent designs worked from Craftaid kits to The Craftsman Magazine, which declined the article as kit-based work but printed a small picture and blurb; the Winnipeg Tandy store manager told him he could not keep the kit in stock, it sold so well. When Lester moved his young family — his wife and three children — to Calgary to open his own business, he chose to live outside the city on a ranch in the rolling foothills, and became the owner of a ranch with goats and horses: the fulfilment, as his Fellowship entry puts it, of “the Hungarian Cowboy in the Rocky Mountains.”

The Fellowship judging

Asked to submit four pieces for his Fellowship judging in Hamilton before the 2019 Annual, Lester instead brought a suitcase of more than ten and asked the Fellows to choose among them: a fully rigged and decorated Western saddle, a set of longhorns with decorated mounts, a leather vest, chaps, spurs and straps, belts, purses and clutch wallets, and a stool seat, most of it decorated in Western floral carving and stamping. The judges were impressed by the craftsmanship and design across the body of work, and his score of 94.5% was one of the highest seen in many years.

His work spans a wide range of technique — floral design, carving and tooling, braiding, whipmaking, box construction, lacing, engraving, toolmaking, lost-wax casting, and bone and antler carving — including presentation awls with carved antler handles and sterling silver ferrules.

From Lester Pinter’s Fellowship entry, submitted by Lauch Harrison FCSCL, 2020.