A symbol of tradition and craftsmanship, the bakery is no longer just a flour-dusted commercial space; it has become a 'living space,' marked by 'moments,' which requires specific technical arrangements. Thus, design has become a key factor for every modern baker-pastry chef entrepreneur.
Using a strong point of a revolution, post-industrial design, to help drive another one—the revolution in bakery-pastry—shows a pragmatic and strikingly obvious approach. The Alliance Française des Designers defines it as 'a creative intellectual process, multidisciplinary and humanistic, that provides solutions to everyday problems, both small and large, related to economic, social, and environmental challenges.'
Thus, the fields of application for design are vast: space (space planning, interior architecture), graphic design (visual communication), and product design (objects, food). The ideal client, and the trend, is the baker-pastry chef.
Between batches, the baker now chooses to be accompanied by a professional who understands the intricacies of the overall store concept and its physical and technical constraints: placing product ranges, designing the production workshop, and considering the equipment and point of sale... all within a framework of identity, branding, positioning, and strategy, according to a defined charter. Some streamline by opting not for a 360° solution but for one or a few specific skills: space design for the aesthetic appeal of the place, or product design. The designer then brings in other professionals: a food photographer to illustrate a book, website, or product catalogs, a graphic designer to establish and refine the company's image, communicators to promote it, a project manager, an architect...
Case study: Benoît Castel and Mamiche
From a legendary store, Ganachaud, dating back to the 1950s, Benoît Castel, who is more inclined to oversee architects and carefully hunt for his furniture, has created a warm and welcoming place in the heights of Ménilmontant. It’s a spot where you can cheerfully dress up to enjoy his breads, cakes, jams, and brunch at any hour, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. He exposed the brick found under the old décor, brought in light, and ultimately achieved the ambiance of a New York loft, rather industrial and from the 1950s. On large farmhouse tables or others in Formica, you find Duralex glasses and colored metal plates filled with homemade pastries, sandwiches in front of baskets overflowing with various breads baked and shaped in the lab downstairs. At the back, the majestic oven delivers the final touch to Benoît Castel’s offering: taste and authenticity.
Cécile Khayat and Victoria Enfantin, young and dynamic Parisian bakers, turned to Uchronia, an innovative and avant-garde multidisciplinary architecture and design collective founded in 2019 by Julien Sebban, a young disruptive designer and architect, for their third bakery, Mamiche Traiteur. "It was important for us to understand how they worked, what their expectations were before we proposed a project and sketches. They saved us time by telling us what they didn’t want. The biggest constraint, ultimately, was their fear of the architectural project," he tells us. Six months later, Mamiche Traiteur, fresh and vibrant with its counter hugging the corner of Rue Bouchardon and Passage du Marché, is colorful and pop in its wall décor, yet traditionally comforting in its displays, blending harmoniously into the neighborhood. Here, you choose what to eat at any time of day. The breads are made on-site, turning into bites, sandwiches, toast for breakfast, and "charcuterie indulgences" like puff pastry, rolls, pizza, gougères, quiche, and the current tart. Salads complete the savory catering offer. Julien Sebban worked with a kitchen designer and a general contractor for technical and major works, and other artisans for wall décor, through various stages of design and layout.
This place reflects its creators: sunny.
High-End
Some push the boundaries even further. Pierre Hermé, "the Picasso of pastry," is undoubtedly the French pastry chef with the most pronounced relationship with design, often integrating it into his sweet creations. "There is never a pre-established mechanism to start a new project. It could be the result of a meeting at a dinner, for example, or a real desire to collaborate with a designer whose work I know and often own one of their objects or works," he says in interviews.
Desserts, confectioneries, chocolates, objects, spaces, packaging... Everything is designed with thought in Pierre Hermé’s world. He collaborates with Matali Crasset to create kitchen utensils for Alessi; with Patrick Jouin for dessert cutlery made by Puiforcat; with artist Bernar Venet for a galette des rois and its fève; with Yan Pennor's for the first macaron store in Paris, among others; with interior designers Olivier Lempereur, Laura Gonzalez, and Masamichi Katayama for boutiques; and with Japanese graphic designer Kenya Hara for a box designed for the iconic Ispahan.
Bakers, pastry chefs, and architects are all connected with applied arts to push the boundaries of their professions and adapt to the times to leave a mark. As Julien Sebban of Uchronia aptly summarizes, "We create things to make them last," and with what lasts, we would add. Thus, the magic of warm, convivial, luxurious, and authentic places, such as Sébastien Gaudard or Stohrer’s pastries, is remembered just as much as the delicate products sought out there.
By Audrey Vacher
Photo Ava du Parc
