About Armstrong textiles

Lesley Armstrong fell in love with weaving when she wove her first cloth in Halifax, Nova Scotia, years ago.

Lesley graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax and studied weaving production methods in Scotland, visiting and studying with weavers throughout Scotland and its Western Isles.

Lesley pursued further studies in hand and power weaving at the Philadelphia College of Textiles & Sciences and continued her stay in Philadelphia, receiving her MA in Art Education at the Philadelphia College of Art. Lesley returned to Nova Scotia to work on private and public textile commissions and is the owner of Armstrong Textiles. Lesley has also been an adjunct faculty member in the Textiles Department at NSCAD University since 1983.

Her passion for weaving is sustained by “endless delight in the physical nature of this medium—you are building cloth from humble little strands of yarn and the element of surprise is always present when you shift and push the weaving and finishing limits.”

Lesley acknowledges that the colours and textures of a Maritime environment play a key role in the choice of the subtle, restrained hues that she uses. Seaweed, rocks, tidal pools, moss, and woodlands are some of the sources of inspiration for her work. Equally fascinating are possibilities offered by New and innovative yarns from Japan, Europe, and South America offer when they are manipulated in the weaving and finishing processes.

Armstrong Textiles designs and produces fashions and interior furnishings that are sold in apparel boutiques, art museum shops, craft galleries, and interior design stores.

Armstrong Textile fashions include accessories such as scarves and wraps with a european design sensibility, and a select apparel line including tops and jackets made in collaboration with Halifax fashion designers Kate Delmage and Meghan Marentette.

Armstrong Textiles also produces interior furnishings including home-window treatments, throws, and pillows, as well as contract interior products such as custom draperies, textile panels, and art installations. The focus is on celebration of the intrinsic properties of textile materials—the dimensional nature, the juxtaposition of colours, the texture, and the “hand”.

The company proudly weaves on vintage industrial textile equipment, two vintage power looms once used to weave Harris Tweed in Scotland and a multi-harness vintage American dobby power loom. Armstrong Textiles embraces and celebrates these time-honoured machines because of their flexibility and their valued history.

modified 25 January 2012