James Whyte knew he had outgrown his old bakery well before doing something about it. Opening in a small stretch of shops in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington’s Berhampore in 2014, Baker Gramercy quickly won over the locals with its refined line-up of pastries and artisan breads. So the baker wasn’t about to jeopardise his customers’ loyalty by upping sticks. Biding his time until the right opportunity presented itself, Whyte made his move when the Italian tailor across the road retired after 35 years.
“The new space gave us the opportunity to address all of the annoyances of over the road,” says Whyte. Off-street parking and a separate goods entrance were a great start, and a larger floorspace gave him room to increase production. Working with the teams at Etch Architecture and Focus Projects contractors, functionality was key to the design. Routing a practical flow through the bakery, retail space, coffee machine and mezzanine took two months alone. “Examining the constraints was critical,” Whyte explains. The meticulous planning created room for bigger ovens, a walk-in fridge and the gallery-like “croissant room”. Set in a glass-fronted cube at the back of the bakery, it’s temperature controlled to optimise pastry perfection.
Front of house, two counters split the experience into baked goods and coffee. “We wanted the joinery to be really bespoke,” Whyte says of the folded beech and brass units, “so we reached out to the guys at Proffer.” The units’ rhythmic design mimics the triangular pattern of unrolled croissants captured in a Shaun Waugh artwork upstairs. Elsewhere, reused marble countertops from the old bakery foster a sense of familiarity. “We didn’t want a situation where people walked in and thought, ‘Oh, it’s all a bit flash now.’ You’ve got to stick to who you are and your values — we’re still Gramercy.”
Though crossing the street meant sacrificing the morning sun, Etch’s design incorporated roof lights and a generous gable window to compensate. It’s bright and airy and brings sun streaming through the wooden slats of the mezzanine office/staff room. This breakout space was non-negotiable in the design. “It gives us a place to sit down and relax away from work, and an office where I can do the paperwork without taking it home — well, partly. You never fully escape it,” Whyte says honestly.
Baker Gramercy
465 Adelaide Road, Berhampore, Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington
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