Karen Weber

The People

Karen Weber

← People of the Society · on record 2009–2019

The Society’s records

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

Also recorded as Karen Gunna, Karen Webber

Branch

Mississauga · member since 2008

Certification

Associate of the CSCL 2012
The judges marked the four pieces 87.7, 76.6, 79.7 and 80.2 per cent, an average of 81.1, and called the black and red handbag “the highest scoring piece of the day”.
Fellow of the CSCL 2015
The 2017-67th-annual-meeting-reports document (minutes of the 66th Annual General Meeting, May 2016, pp.3-4,7) itself lists this same presentation as pending "at the Banquet" for that (2016) meeting, a year after the 2015 date given here: most likely the minutes recap the previous year's honour rather than record a second one; both dates are kept. The 2018 Machine Sewn Hand Bags workshop flyer prints her as “Karen Gunna FCSCL”, the same woman, so the two entries are joined here.

Her work has won the Ontario Craft Council Design Award in 2015. The spring 2009 newsletter, which has her teaching “The Ways to Earn Money with Your Leatherwork” and writing up Peter Grove’s sandal-making, prints her surname Webber; the Society’s later papers print Weber. Karen Gunna is her business name, and the Society printed it in 2018–2020: she wrote the “Magic Braid Kit” article in the Summer 2018 newsletter (pp8–9).

From Spring 2012, page 5; Spring 2009, page 6; and Summer 2018.

Served the Society as

Workshop Leader (Machine Sewn Hand Bags) 2018
Mississauga Branch Program 2010–2011

Honours

Zalitis Pin 2012
Awarded for the highest marks of the three members made Associates at the 2012 Annual.

Awards

Best General Member Piece 2011
Craftsman Ribbon 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018
London Jewellery Award 2014
Ontario Crafts Council Award 2014, 2015
Salon Awards 2017
Salon Ribbon 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015
Wearable Award 2017
Zalitis Pin 2012

Work shown in competition

Dragons Tail Belt 2021

Demonstrations given

The Ways to Earn Money with Your Leatherwork (workshop) 2009
59th Annual
From Spring 2009, page 6.
Putting a drop-in pocket into a purse, and sewing round it 2014
Mississauga Branch meeting, September 2014
From 66th Annual Meeting: Reports, page 6.
Dragon Workshop (Norland School Community Centre, 21 Mar 2015) 2015
Workshop, 2015
From Spring 2015, page 10.
The Magic Braid, with Gary Cook's help 2015
Mississauga Branch meeting, February 2015
From 66th Annual Meeting: Reports, page 6.
Sewing a Leather Bag (workshop, Focused on Food, Mississauga, 11 Jun 2016) 2016
Workshop, 2016
From Spring 2016, page 4.
Sewing a Leather Bag, at Focused on Food, Rangeview Road, Mississauga 2016
CSCL Workshop, Mississauga, 11 June 2016
From Spring 2016, page 4.
Making a bracelet, after a tour of Paul Kitchener's workshop 2017
Mississauga Branch meeting, September 2017
From 69th Annual Meeting: Reports, page 6.
Machine Sewn Hand Bags: the Large Hobo Bag and the Small Bag, at Focused on Food, Rangeview Road, Mississauga 2018
CSCL Workshop, Mississauga, 11 February 2018
From Workshop: the Gunna Bag, page 1.
Making a three-zipper coin purse 2018
Mississauga Branch meeting, February 2018
From 69th Annual Meeting: Reports, page 6.
Workshop (Sunday morning, one of three concurrent workshops) 2018
68th Annual
From Spring 2018, page 12.
A mini workshop on round-braiding a key chain with a Turk's head knot 2019
Mississauga Branch meeting, March 2019
From 70th and 71st Annual Meeting: reports, 8 May 2021 (another copy), page 4.

Where this comes from

Life and work

These lines come from outside sources, named under each.

In the press: As Karen Gunna, the name she designed under, she was described in the Toronto Star of 3 June 1993 as a hat designer whose designs were sold across Canada.
From Kathleen Sloan, “Shades of summer”, Toronto Star, 3 June 1993.; The Ottawa Citizen of 7 May 2009 named her among the designers at the Capital Clothing Show, with leather handbags, belts and backpacks; a Guelph shop was selling her leather handbags in December 2012, and the Toronto Star listed a leather cat toy of her design in January 2023.
From Janet Wilson, “Spring fling”, Ottawa Citizen, 7 May 2009; Guelph Mercury, 5 December 2012; Toronto Star, 14 January 2023.

Know more about Karen Weber? Tell the archive →

This name in the index of people →