Branch Flutes win over GEODE Dragons

Pierre Laframbroise scored $1,000 for winning the GEODE Dragons contest.

The contest pinned six local aspiring entrepreneurs against each other in a live finale on Sept. 2. Similar to CBC's Dragon's Den, the “dragons” picked a winner based on the product or service they offered, and how likely their business was to succeed in Sudbury.

Laframbroise won for his business making flutes from Ontario tree branches.

“I started making them two years ago, after trying to buy a flute online,” he said.

“When I go in the bush, I see the flute in the branch first, before I cut it. I usually go for freshly dead branches. I don't want to cut any live stuff. Or, another thing I've done too is go where the city has cut down trees, and taken branches from there.”

Last summer, he travelled to festivals around the province selling his music makers. Now, Laframbroise said he plans to market his flutes online more.

Each hand-crafted flute has a different sound that buyers can hear before they purchase one.

“When somebody wants to buy the flutes online, they select the flute, and see a whole slideshow of that flute — they see which forest it came from, and also the song itself that was recorded of that flute,” he said.

Laframbroise said he comes from a musical background, which helped him to make the flutes professional sounding.

“My musical background really helped me out,” he said. “The last six years, I have been living on music alone. I teach music, I record music, I produce it, I compose music and play.”

Laframbroise said he was impressed with all the other finalists in the contest. He said they were all well-prepared and spoke strongly about their ideas, which he went for a more natural approach.

“I spoke more from the heart,” he said. “I've been selling them, so I know how to talk about them.”

He also had samples of his work at the contest for the judges to see.

“I had music in the background too, which I guess helped a lot” he added.

John Marunchak, GEODE's program coordinator, said Laframbroise's idea was “unique and creative.”

He said the judges had a difficult job in picking a winner, since all the ideas were good.

“I think we had a broad range of different ideas, and I think each on their own was very viable, and could potentially be successful,” he said. “There was potential for them to success in Sudbury, given our economic climate in our town.”

For more information about Laframbroise's flutes, visit www.branchflutes.ca.