Karen McBride

Karen McBride came late to woodworking. First she studied engineering, apprenticed as an auto mechanic, and settled for a career in high tech. Then, in 2005, an apprenticeship with her fellow Ontario resident Michael Fortune set her on the right course, igniting her passion for furniture making. Her workshop is an early 19th-century hand-hewn log building that she dismantled, moved, and rebuilt and continues to fill with lovingly restored vintage machinery. When she isn’t in the shop, she’s usually out on the farm birding with her dog Daffy, working in the veggie garden, or cross-country skiing.