A Light on the Street Corner

ZAOC Pâtisserie is a Japanese-French creative pastry studio on the 366 pedestrian street in Nanshan, Shenzhen. Founded by Aisling, a Le Cordon Bleu–trained pastry chef, it uses desserts to share feeling and connection.

It brings a welcome dose of comfort to a city often called a food desert. Amid Shenzhen's busy urban life, ZAOC stands for an attitude of "work at sunrise, rest at sunset, and seize the day".

01 · Light Up the Soul

The shop sits on the corner of an old building. As a neighbourhood shop, we asked how the space could become a friendlier part of the community. The ZAOC brand takes its idea from the beautiful moments when the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. To hold on to that moment, why not leave a light on at the street corner, to brighten the way home for tired hearts at night?

The owner, Aisling, holds a double diploma in pastry and baking from Le Cordon Bleu in France, trained under the Japanese pastry master Tomio Uchida, and spent years working in Michelin-starred restaurants. "I came to pastry out of love. In an industry dominated by factory-made desserts, ZAOC keeps creating and developing handmade desserts, hoping people will feel a relaxed, positive and playful attitude to life, sincere and confident." (Aisling)

A soft curved cake bar is set into the corner of the building. Here the pastry chefs make their cakes in full view, sharing the care that goes into each dessert with the people passing by.

The indoor sales area is compact. Rough wood grain and stone are the main materials, in strong contrast with the delicacy of the desserts. The bar, by contrast, is a wall of clear panoramic glass that merges with the greenery of the community square outside, and the round worktop becomes a free and open stage.

Within a compact 18 m², the ZAOC studio is a world of its own: a small, beautiful space for creating desserts. In a profit-driven market, ZAOC keeps to its original intent and its dedication to the craft, making its voice heard in the world of pastry through its products and service.

ZAOC Address

Address: Unit 103, Building 118, Xinwei Village, Xili, Nanshan, Shenzhen

Client
ZAOC Pâtisserie

Location
366 Avenue, Xili, Nanshan, Shenzhen, Guangdong

Area
18 m²

Completion Date
2023.02

Design Firm
E Studio

Lead Designer
Fan, Junjian
Zhou, Xuanzhuo

FF&E
Zhou, Jing

Brand Design
Whatever Brand

Media
Zhuang, Xiaoxia