Canadian design is speckled with many odd but smart little products. We may not have Alessi’s or Droog’s but we do have a load of top drawer niche products that fill extremely specific markets, and this is one of them. Who knew that the best oboe reeds are made in Canada? Recommended for orchestral work these are painstakingly handmade, out of high quality dense cane from Cogolin in the Var region of France. These reeds are responsive, stable, play in tune and have a very dark and flexible tone. The reeds measure 69-70.5 mm long without wire, 70.5-72 mm long with wire x 7.5-8 mm wide, are shaped on a Prestini #3 flat shaper. VandeBurgt tells the story of the reeds creation best. “I trim and split cane tubes, pre-gouge, and then gouge to 0.75 mm. I then shape, fold and tie the cane airtight around the silver staple. It takes a full hour to make a reed this way but in practice they are made in 4 stages allowing for repeated soaking and drying periods to break in the reed as much as possible before shipment.”