Baking news! There’s finally a design trend you can get your teeth into! The flaky and buttery crescent-shaped croissant is currently a craze in the food world, with bakers reinventing the billowy pastry with delicious flavours and inventive shapes. However, card designers have been peeking into the Parisian patisserie parlour window and snaffling inspiration too.
With Tom Daley spied crocheting a croissant bag poolside at the Olympic Games, and supermarket Lidl joining designer Nikolas Bentel to launch a new croissant handbag during the recent London Fashion Week, greeting card journalist and promo filmmaker, Gale Astley, took a trip to Top Drawer Autumn to taste the croissant crush currently on card designs.
Croissant cuteness is the creative a la mode across handbags, homewares, and, of course, greeting card designs right now, influenced by the sensational summer of Olympian and Paralympian sport set in the chic city of Paris, the rise of bakeries and enjoying the little things.
Originating from Vienna, the croissant is a descendant of the kipferl, a dense curve-shaped sweetened roll introduced to Parisians in 1839 when the first Boulangerie Viennoise opened its doors. Greeted with great aplomb across the city, the kipferl not only ignited a long passionate French liaison with the now light, flaky and buttery breakfast delicacy, but it was also rechristened croissant, the French word for crescent.
Since then, a curiosity of croissant amalgamations has tempted cravings for a naughty nibble. The latest, the Parisian-invented crookie (a flattened croissant with chocolate-chip cookie dough), went viral on TikTok earlier this year, timed perfectly for the Olympic Games in Paris.
Going croissant crazy, German supermarket Lidl joined forces with designer Nikolas Bentel to create a croissant leather handbag, launching the campaign during London Fashion Week this month with ‘Patisserie Lidl’, a Soho pop-up store, and, during a fantastic sporting summer, Olympic diver, Tom Daley, crafted the Le Crochet Croissant shoulder bag poolside at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, releasing the pattern so we can all make one too.
Savouring the Parisian café culture, greeting cards are currently indulging in a café au lait and delicious French pastries, dreaming of Left Bank sidewalks set with clusters of small tables, people watching and slowing down to take the time to watch the world go by. With the food design trend sizzling on cards and prints, designers have devoured and whipped-up their own classic croissant creations this year, illustrations that are the perfect for special celebrations, funny food puns or simply to say ‘Je t’aime’.
“We are very fortunate where we live in Manchester to be surrounded by some amazing bakeries like Pollen, who even sell a croissant butter. Mine and our daughter Astrid’s preference is for a pain au chocolat as we need that chocolate kick!”, says Katie Nguyen, sales & operations director for Jolly Awesome.
And this is reflected on the publisher’s card designs. Katie’s partner in love and business, director, Matt Nguyen, who “has always included funny food items in our ranges, especially where a pun can be involved! But the popularity of the croissant is probably due to the buzz of the Paris Olympics and Paris being a city that is synonymous with cafe culture and pastries”, she suggests.
From Battenberg cake to watermelon, Western Sketch’s card illustrations feature plenty of toothsome fare, including croissant giftwrap. Melissa Western, director of the company, explains: “I’ve always been very influenced by foods within my designs. I use them on greeting cards because food is very comforting and I think when designing a card you want to have a connection for someone to feel good, which food often does”, adding: “I think croissants are having their moment party because of the Paris Olympics and also from the popularity of TV shows like Emily in Paris.”
Initially inspired when she brought a t-shirt that said ‘Less Regrets More Baguettes’ on it, Olivia Penny, co-founder of Studio Boketto, explains, “following that, we kept seeing croissants and pastries popping up on our social media feeds. We love to use cute food illustrations in our products and so we decided to do a baked goods themed design to put onto giftwrap and notebooks. The design features croissants (of course), pain au chocolats, baguettes, bagels and lots of other carb-based treats!! Yum!”
However, sparked by the pandemic, and the following financial crisis, the desire for affordable pleasurable treats, and to slow down and appreciate the small things in life, has also catapulted the humble croissant into the patisserie stratosphere. Freshly baked on card designs, the cute image of the flaky buttery bite is a gentle reminder to find the joy in the every day.
Laura Barnes, director of the eponymous card publisher, has vivid memories of camping holidays in France as a child, going to collect the morning croissants from the bakery, so the pastry has a sense of nostalgia for her: “You cannot beat the smell of freshly baked croissants. Heaven!”, she declares.
“I am more of a savoury person so I will always go for a classic buttery croissant, the best ones are when they are still warm, ideally eaten in France, but if not, in a local independent cafe with my classic flat white.”
Believing the bakery and cafe culture trend, and particularly the recent love for croissants, “must be something to do with the difficulty of the last few years”, Laura denotes: “After going through a global pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis, I think people are trying to find joy in the little things and getting a pastry and a coffee at the weekend really feels like a treat but a relatively affordable one. From a design aspect, there is also just something so iconic about the shape of a croissant, it is just instantly recognisable.”
Whisking us away to a relaxing morning in the chic Parisian cafes of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Sarah Jackson, director of Stormy Knight, reveals: “Our croissant design was aimed at the coffee-loving crowd who enjoy lazy Sunday mornings with a coffee, pastry and some good company… or a good book! It’s a slower pace of life that many of us aspire towards and evokes a sense of tranquillity… that feels as delicious as that croissant!”
Jonathan Crosby, director of Stripey Cats j’ adore a croissant and/or a pain au chocolat in the morning. “There’s a fab cafe/bakery where I live called Libby’s so I treat myself to one of their home-baked pastries every now and again; they do an almond croissant that I’m quite fond of! But my favourite French pastry would have to be profiteroles, although I haven’t eaten them in years! Must book a trip to France to sample me thinks! We have the croissant craze covered with our Courtney Croissant card from our Fruit & Friends Range, and she does seem very popular. You could say she’s simply delicious!”
Bon appétit!
Featured images: For a flaky friend, a Jolly Awesome design; a chic Thank You design from Caroline Gardner; the delicious Courtney Croissant from Stripey Cats; scrumptious bakes on a Laura Barnes card; part of Rumble Card’s Artist Series, cute croissant stationery by Glitter Power Club, the artist (Naima) is French; relax with a coffee and croissant card from Stormy Knight; delectable Western Sketch croissant giftwrap; breaded treats on notebooks from Studio Boketto.
