In 1975, Laura Fry was working for a custom drapery house when her employer showed her a textile that changed her life. This drapery sample, with black and gold bees on it and constructed using a double-weave technique, led to her telling her husband, Doug, that she thought maybe a person could weave some fabric and make some money. And almost fifty years later, she is still weaving cloth.
Laura grew up in a blue-collar home in the remote city of Prince George, British Columbia, the community she has called home for her entire life. Before they had a television in their home, her family crafted to keep busy in the evenings, and Laura learned to knit by the time she was five years old. As she grew up, she learned to embroider and to sew her own clothes, so she says working with textiles was just something that she has always done.
When Laura saw that piece of cloth, while she knew nothing about weaving, she saw the potential woven into a life in textiles. So, she and her husband moved to a house big enough to accommodate a loom and Laura set out to learn to weave. And she hasn’t stopped learning to this day. As she says, “Weaving will keep you humble.”
