About

Thank you for visiting Lahave Weaving Studio & Shop. My name is Lesley Armstrong and I run a weaving workshop and retail outlet in the small community of Conquerall Bank, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.

Originally born along the LaHave River, Nova Scotia, I have finally made it back, full circle, to about 2 km. from where I was born.

I design and weave fashion accessories such as men's and women's scarves, kerchiefs, cropped ponchos, and other pieces are designed and woven using alpaca, merino wool, and silk. Other fibres that are equally admired for their stellar qualities are linen and hemp which I primarily weave into household goods such as towels, runners, and bath products. All of this work can be purchased at the retail shop or online.

All of the weaving is done on one of several wooden hand looms or on one of two vintage cast iron power looms, both circa 1940, one from Scotland and one from the USA. There will be occasional posted Open Houses so that visitors can get up close and see the workings of these relics from the Industrial Revolution or holiday events in the shop.

What has been absorbing me over the past several decades is design and construction of woven textiles. It has been endlessly captivating to work with these unassuming strands of yarns that, through the act of weaving (this repetitive practice that has taken place for tens of thousands of years) can be transformed into a cloth in some form, dimensional unto itself. German art theorist and critic, Bazon Brock, refers to the textile as "a secular form of eternity".

Occasionally I have the opportunity to delve into the unrestrained realm of art and design projects. The challenge of realizing, usually in a three-dimensional form, one's concepts on paper or in one's head has never lost its' appeal.  And so the weaving continues.