Stefanie Hödlmoser and The Pâtissière

The sweet art of branding and design

Anyone who conjures up fine pastries and petits fours every day is used to weighing things up carefully and selecting the ingredients with care. Yasmine Scheuringer also adhered to this when it came to developing a recipe for her own company. The Salzburg native chose Graz-based designer Stefanie Hödlmoser and found a reliable partner who accompanied her by e-mail and telephone on the turbulent path from logo to store opening. In the competition "Creative Industries History 2019" the cooperation was awarded 3rd place.

"You couldn't have made it more beautiful," says Yasmine Scheuringer, delighted with the branding of her young company: warm, berry red tones, a specially developed handwriting, inviting illustrations, graceful packaging that reveals a great deal of love for detail. And last but not least the name. "die Pâtissière" congenially sums up the USP of the small café confectionery.

Before Scheuringer founded her own company, she ran the patisserie at the Hotel Sacher in Salzburg for 25 years. It was there that she became aware of the work of Graz-based designer Stefanie Hödlmoser through an employee. Because the concepts and implementations had remained in her memory for a long time, she relied on her gut feeling and turned to the Graz agency: "The first telephone call gave me the feeling that I was in good hands.

Free space and mindfulness
Before the two creative women met in person, countless telephone calls were to follow. "An unusual business relationship," confirmed Hödlmoser, who until then had been used to meeting her customers from the greater Graz area in person. The fact that a cooperation can work over distance was a valuable experience for her. "It is important to meet what the other person needs and thinks. That requires listening carefully. And over the distance it requires a bit more attentiveness." At least as valuable in the cooperation she appreciates the opportunity to be part of the process from the beginning and the freedom of her client.

A la maison
"We talked on the phone a lot and over time a natural way of working together developed." Even hurdles were easier to overcome through intensive dialogue, they say today. For example, difficulties with landlords made the choice of location more difficult. When it became clear that Scheuringer would move to the premises of a former confectionery, the question arose as to a suitable name. Should the name of the traditional company be taken into the new company? Should the own name be put on display or something completely different?

"the Pâtissière" was after all so much to Scheuringer's taste, because the proposal takes into account her preference for French baking and at the same time communicates the new beginning in a house rich in tradition. On this basis the two of them developed one idea after the other step by step. Design proposals were coordinated by e-mail and telephone, but details such as the choice of colours for the newly designed rooms were also discussed. "An important learning process," says the confectioner, who also made her aware of new tasks as an entrepreneur.

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During the entire founding phase Hödlmoser kept her customer's back free so that she could concentrate on the art of baking and the construction site. As a "quasi one-woman design agency", she contributed ideas that anchored the corporate branding of the new company more firmly. She coordinated contacts with supplier companies and accompanied the professional implementation of cake decorations, packaging, maps, awnings, facades etc. from the beginning to the last detail.
"It wasn't an easy path and completely different than planned," says Yasmine Scheuringer. "But you couldn't have made it nicer." The guests obviously agree, and because the sweet delicacies are in great demand, "the pâtissière" already has two employees.

© Verena Lepuschitz

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