Freeform Stamping for a Fantastical Bakery Shop

I always say…”my job is so much fun!” and here is a perfect example. Queen City Cookies was opening a coffee/bakery shop at its manufacturing complex and Peggy Shannon, owner, wanted it to be a magical place where people could gather. We had established a fantasy brand full of whimsey and color and elephants, so we applied that brand tone to an old brick building that was a rectory of a historic church in Northside in Cincinnati, Ohio. When you walk up to the traditional brick building, you are drawn in with brightly colored architectural details. The pink glass chandelier on the porch gives you a taste of things to come.

When you step into the shop, you are greeted by a mixture of old and bright. Peggy loves combining art from different cultures around the world, so she made the check out counter out of Mexican hand painted tiles. She also integrated details from India. This inspired my own creativity, so I created her menu boards by collaging handmade papers and lettering her menu items on translucent paper. I tacked the paper with vintage drapery pins and framed them with antiqued frames. We incorporated touches of gold throughout the space.

Our goal of this shop was to apply the Queen City Cookies brand to the space, and one of the tying brand elements is the border design that was on all printed materials. So I made custom wall stamps of the brand border design which I stamped along the top of the walls in a metallic gold paint. (To see how to make your own custom wall stamps, read my post: Freeform Stamping). The metallic gold on the brand colored walls gave it a rich sophistication.

 The main seating area is an explosion of pink (which had to be the perfect tone of pink so that it did not go towards Pepto pink!). I used my Freeform Stamping technique to the entrance and interior of the room. The floral design was inspired by some wood carved screens from India that hung on the walls. Using the same metallic gold on the pink walls were a gorgeous combination. By creating a number of separate leaves, stems and flowers, I was able to spontaneously create a more artistically random design on the spot so that it did not look like a typical wall pattern repeat. I also added the same design details to door panels and the bathroom. The effect was so much fun!

I also incorporated the Freeform Stamping into a random stamped floor in a smaller side seating room. Peggy had laid down sheets of plywood and stained them a dark cocoa brown. The  pink stamped flowers on the brown continued the brand even to the floors. The randomness of the design gave it an energy that you don’t get from more standard tile treatments and the cost of this makes it worth trying yourself. She finished it with a couple of coats of clear Polyurethane.

This was a dream job for me. It isn’t often that a client wants you to be as creative as you can and trusts you enough to just let you loose. I want to thank Peggy Shannon for such a great opportunity. I hope this inspires everyone to try some Freeform Stamping in your own life. Have fun with it!

Greetings The Queen City Elephant Herd