Work

Robyn Waffle is a textile-based mixed-media artist based in Toronto, Canada. Working between fibre, sculpture, and installation, Waffle creates spatial textiles and layered material compositions for interiors and curated spaces. Her studio practice stems from her fascination with rug design, and through a rainbow-array of mediums, she weaves together unexpected materials to explore themes of tension, repair, tradition, and memory. Guided by a desire to honour the ancient craft of rug making, Waffle responds to the complexities of contemporary life through tactile works that exist somewhere between object and atmosphere - expressive, contemplative, and deeply rooted in materiality.

Robyn Waffle’s work exists in a constant exchange between handcraft and modern technology. Beginning with sketches, digital drawings, and rendered collages, Waffle layers images of interiors, textiles, and abstract forms into compositions that evolve from small studies into large-scale works. While technology informs her process, it’s the craftsmanship and tactile nature of the handmade details that give her pieces depth, intrigue, and creative strength.

Robyn Waffle carries her passion for rug design into her art practice by weaving together natural hand-spun yarns from Nepal with hard, modern materials such as acrylic glass and mirror. The yarn holds warmth, tradition, and care, while the mirror and acrylic glass reflect a colder, fast-moving, manufactured world. An abstracted moth motif pulses through many of her pieces, referencing both the quiet damage moths cause to carpets, and the transformative alchemy of silk. This tension reflects cycles of making and unmaking, where loss and creation co-exist in tandem. The act of binding soft handspun fibres around the sharp edges of the machine-made glass becomes a quiet, meditative exercise in repair - where self-reflection occurs, and a tactile connection develops between the past and the present. Material tension becomes a language through which past and present, softness and rigidity, craft and industry are held in dialogue.

RUG MOTHS IN FLIGHT: NATIONAL HOME SHOW (2026)

In March 2026, Robyn Waffle was invited by the National Home Show’s Creative Director, Tiffany Pratt, to transform two beat-up shipping crates into an art exhibit for the entrance of the show. Embracing the design challenge, Robyn created two dynamic works of art by weaving together elements from her “Where Wings Tangle” series. By layering her Rug Moths, carpet swatches, rose-gold mirror, and vinyl foam cut-outs, Robyn says it felt like she was building two massive multi-layered cakes. But instead of icing, the artist used copper wire, yarn, and finishing nails to tether her moth motifs to the crates and carpet piles. Robyn’s completed shipping container installation (x2) was a true glow-up - whimsical and vibrant within the expansive, space-age lobby space of Toronto’s Enercare Centre.

WHERE WINGS TANGLE: AN ODE TO RUGS (2026)

Continuing in her exploration of rug design as an art form, Robyn honours the skilled Nepali weavers she has been collaborating with for over a decade. Installed within R:DESIGN’s 50-foot tunnel, Robyn combined acrylic glass, mirror and hand-spun yarns to create a series that embodies a poetic reflection of her passion for rugs. An abstracted moth motif pulses through each piece; evoking both the quiet destruction moths inflict on carpets and the subtle alchemy of silk from which rugs are made from. Robyn Waffle’s newest exhibition is a celebration of tradition, texture and cross-cultural collaboration, where playful artwork and luxurious rug design converged and created a transformative experience within R:DESIGN’s dynamic showroom.

WHERE WINGS TANGLE: ARTIST PROJECT (2025)

Robyn Waffle debuted a new body of work at Artist Project in 2025. A true labour of love, self-reflection, and experimentation, Robyn’s new series features a variety of mixed-media pieces, ranging from tiny watercolour collages to expansive multilayered abstracts, composed of wood, textiles, hand-spun yarns and acrylic glass.