Robyn Waffle is an award-winning rug designer and multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Canada. Experimenting with a rainbow array of mediums, Robyn weaves together unique material combinations to create colourful collections that celebrate the ancient craft of rug making and the authentic joy of personal expression.
For over a decade Robyn Waffle has collaborated with skilled Nepali weavers to expand on rug design as a contemporary art form.
Robyn carries her passion for rugs into her art practice by combining 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. Binding the soft fibres around the sharp edges of the glass becomes a quiet, meditative act in repair - where self-reflection occurs and a tactile connection forms between the past and the present.
For Robyn, her artistic process and final works hold space for both pain and possibility. Her practice invites stillness, reflection, and the idea that healing doesn’t erase the past, but carries it forward with power and purpose. Each finished artwork becomes a suspended moment - an orb of release, where the artist finds inspiration and hope. 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.
Dreaming of a future shaped with care, where the wisdom of the past informs new ways of being, Robyn explores themes of healing, memory, and renewal, creating vibrant, tactile works that are both expressive and contemplative. Whether she creates a small paper collage, an intricate rug design, or a large dimensional artwork, her practice is shaped by her desire to pay respect to a valuable ancient art form, while celebrating the vibrant, complex tension of contemporary life.
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 and acrylic glass.
NeutralCURVES (2024)
In 2024 Robyn Waffle launched her latest rug collection titled Neutral Curves. Her new signature series features hand-knotted 8’x10’ rugs that have been meticulously crafted in Nepal. Utilizing a blend of wool, silk, mohair, and nettle fibres; each piece is characterized by curved corners, innovative material combinations, and rich colour palettes. The Neutral Curves collection is currently on display at R:GALLERY, located within Toronto's new R:DESIGN showroom in the Castlefield Design District. The rugs are available for purchase through R:DESIGN.
Follow me on Instagram: @ROBYN.WAFFLE • Email me: robynwaffle@gmail.com • Phone me: (+1) 647-524-0403