Hasta La Ideas

Slideshow: Australian practice March Studio conceived this Melbourne bakery as an oversized breadbasket.

The undulating wooden slats that cover the rear wall and ceiling of the shop function as shelves for storing and displaying breads of different shapes and sizes.

A wooden chopping board spans the length of the bakery to create a countertop with integrated pockets for scales, knives, crumb-catchers and checkouts.

March Studio were also the designers for a series of unusual shops for skincare brand Aesop – see them here.

Photography is by Peter Bennetts.

Here’s the story of the project from March Studio:

Baker D. Chirico

“Just bread”, he said, and passed us a loaf.

“Just bread?”, we said, and thought of containers for bread. Baskets, cooling racks, peels. A basket the size of a shop. A basket that was also a rack. A single gesture.

A Wall Of Bread.

Bread is a simple product, of few ingredients, traditionally displayed and sold simply.
The art of a baker such as D. Chirico is to perfect a simple process and do it like few others. The results are evident in their reputation.

At the Carlton edition of Baker D. Chirico, March Studio have taken inspiration from this example, crafting an interior with a simple purpose: to cool the bread fresh out of the oven, to display it naked of packaging and ready to be portioned and sold.

An undulation of CNC routed plywood forms wall and ceiling. Subtractions from the wall provide display areas for bread; the varying depths of the shelves and heights of the subtractions meticulously arranged to accommodate long baguettes, large round pagnotta, ficelle loaves and other creations. The variety and expanse of the wall gives freedom to arrange and alter the display according to mood or season.

“And I’ll sell it by the kilo”, he said, and showed us a knife.

“By the kilo?”, we said (we didn’t always repeat what he’d said as a question) and thought of chopping boards. A chopping board the size of a counter.

Standing in firm counterpoint to the wave of the bread wall, the central counter is conceived of as a giant chopping board, intended to wear and patina gracefully with age and use. Scales, crumb trays, knife holders and POS terminals each have a place on this working bench, all subsumed into the simple sales concept – chop loaf, wrap and sell.

“And maybe some nougat”, he said. “Nah, just bread”, we said.