About us

Leading Edge Designs (1984) Inc.

Leading Edge designs and manufactures Littledeer culinary accessories (Littledeer Mapleware^®) and other items for the home. It supplies Williams-Sonoma stores in the USA, the Manufactum catalogue in Europe, and independent cooking boutiques, galleries, and natural food stores in Canada. The family business promotes sustainable production and equitable business practices under its slogan “tread tenderly.”

Mapleware^®

In 1984, Tom Littledeer hypothesized that a scoop-shaped paddle would make canoeing easier. He designed and tested a variety of different models with Olympic canoeists and at the National Research Council. When The Stowe Canoe Company in Vermont decided to produce his original paddle, Tom made a series of miniature promotional paddles for the launch, and these first scooped paddles evolved into the Pot Scoop...the first wooden spoon deliberately designed not to crack.

In 1992, Tom gave left-handed Pot Scoops as Christmas presents to friends. Orders from left-handers began to come in through word of mouth. Right-handed orders followed. In Spring 1995, the Pot Scoop, and four other Mapleware® cooking paddles, handmade by Tom Littledeer, were introduced at the One Of A Kind Show in Toronto. Sales to gourmet stores and kitchen boutiques began the following year.

The Mapleware® line has expanded to include an extensive selection of comfortable, multi-purpose cooking, serving, and eating utensils, all made of heat-enduring, beautiful, hard maple. Littledeer has also created Slat Bags, household cleaning tools, sporting equipment, greenhouses, furniture, and industrial shelters. Mapleware^® remains his best-known product, recently surpassing the milestone of 1 million items sold.

Tom Littledeer		Sharron Wall
An inventor by nature, Tom learned shopcraft and building by apprenticing to his father. He learned to grow vegetables, plant trees, fish, make wine, and prepare food creatively from a young age. He discovered his passion for fluid dynamics while studying Pure & Applied Science and taking flying lessons. Pulling all these skills and interests together, in 1991 he invented the Pot Scoop, the first fluid dynamic cooking utensil.		A photographer and graphic designer from childhood, Sharron's first career in theatre and film became the training ground for running Leading Edge Designs. Co-designing kitchen tools, teaching communications, or planning a garden, she is motivated by doing lots with little. Sharron gardens, gathers, preserves, and bakes for pleasure.

Sharron and Tom share a love of canoeing, permaculture, mycology and exploring culinary culture.