The Pin People trace their beginnings back to founder Laurie Artiss, a sports editor, entrepreneur, and curling enthusiast. Frustrated by the shortage of decent lapel pins available for curling clubs and bonspiels, Artiss decided to take matters into his own hands and before long Artiss had sourced out a facility that could produce high quality inexpensive pins, and The Pin People was born.

Since 1976 The Pin People have specialized in pin making, and the vision of Laurie Artiss has soared to Olympic heights with the help of his daughter and Pin People President Karen, a skilled team of dedicated employees, and a happy office dog named Molly.

The Pin People have provided official pins for eleven Olympic Games and have also created custom lapel pins for sports teams, provincial centennials, curling clubs and events, governments, business organizations, Lions Clubs, cities and towns. Along the way they’ve made countless friends and created pins worn on lapels around the world.

As president of The Pin People and daughter of founder Laurie Artiss, Karen has been intricately involved in the growth of The Pin People since a young age. Karen joined The Pin People at an early age some 25 years ago and has handled every aspect of the company, from administration of the first Olympic project (and 11 million dollars in sales) to coordinating multi-language Coca Cola pin trading centres. Actively involved in the community, Karen has held senior volunteer positions at six curling championships and recently served as Senior Vice President of the 2006 Tim Hortons Brier in Regina. Karen is also an avid golfer and "Tana" to two beautiful grandchildren.

Chris joined The Pin People in 1986 and is responsible for the sales and marketing of the company. You may have noticed that Chris and Karen share the same last name. That’s no coincidence. Chris and Karen have been married for 19 years and love every minute of working together even when things get a little hectic; like when Laurie Artiss Ltd was asked to rescue the Saskatoon Canada Games pin program with half a million pins and just nine months to produce them. Always up for a challenge, Chris is also actively involved in the community and has chaired numerous events, benefits and curling committees. In his spare time, Chris actively plays that most Canadian of sports: hockey.

Kelly has been with The Pin People since 1989 and is a key member of the multi-talented design team. With numerous Olympic pin designs under her belt, Kelly is up for any pin challenge given to her. Kelly, perhaps taking a cue from Chris and Karen, is married to Sales Manager Barry Taman, and is also the mother of two children, Fran and Lew.

Jennifer joined The Pin People and the design department in 1997. Jennifer will be welcoming twins into her family (soon!) and both her husband Bryan and her extended Pin People family are anxiously awaiting their arrival.

Barry joined Laurie Artiss Ltd. in January 2005 as General Sales Manager after serving as CEO of the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Association. Prior to working with SMPIA he spent two years serving as the Executive Director of the Better Business Bureau of Saskatchewan. For both organizations, Barry was responsible for all business operations as well as marketing and promotional activities. With such impressive experience, you can imagine how pleased The Pin People were when Barry joined the team. In his spare time, Barry volunteers for numerous local organizations and charities, and is currently President of the Board of Directors for the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.

Delores has been with Laurie Artiss since 1999. Whether she’s handling numerous inquiries or counting out fasteners, Delores has been the glue holding The Pin People together on more than one occasion. It’s Delores who takes all telephone inquiries and helps answer numerous pin questions, while generally keeping everyone in line. A farm girl at heart, Delores enjoys spending her free time working in her garden with the help of her husband Wayne and her Border Collie Winston.