The sight of buttery croissants at Lune in Melbourne, Australia is enough to make any foodie’s mouth water. The New York Times proclaimed them as the world’s best croissants in 2016. But there’s so much more to this croissanterie than excellent pastries. Lune was founded by Kate Reid, a former aeronautical engineer, alongside her brother Cam in 2012. The design of its flagship store, a turn-of-the-century warehouse in Melbourne, is as unexpected as Reid’s background in Formula 1.&n
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The space is divided into three distinct areas. When customers first walk in, they spot the bakery service, featuring two monolithic concrete counters. The second area is the heart of the store, the Lune Lab – a large climate-controlled, illuminated glass cube where pastry chefs create croissants. At the rear of the store is a concealed area for storage, baking and kitchen preparation.
“We had this image of that scene in Ocean’s 11 where, at a warehouse down at the docks, they built that perfect replica of a bank vault to break into,” Reid explained. “We created this glass room in the middle of a factory warehouse that is technologically state-of-the-art and it looked really out of place. We were the first people ever to design a pastry counter like this and it’s been copied the world over.”
“When you arrive at the counter, we want our staff to make you feel like you’re the only person in the world. Any question you have about any item is completely acceptable, and you can take your time deciding exactly what pastries you want to take away with you from this experience.”
Lune recently opened a store in Brisbane and is planning to open another in Sydney in the next 12 months.
