Our story

In the late Seventies the austrian painter Gertie Fröhlich designed her first gingerbread figures as Christmas presents for friends. The unusual figures with their paper faces quickly gained popularity amongst her friends and collectors, so the artist continued designing figures and offering them at arts and crafts markets. The idea, which had started as a personal present, turned out to be a great success throughout Austria.

1987 Gertie Fröhlich followed an invitation to Andre Heller´s modern arts fair “LUNA LUNA” in Hamburg, for which she designed an exquisite collection of gingerbread models and also the stand for the arts fair. At the same time the American designer and journalist Lilian Langseth-Christensen visited the artist and was so fascinated by the figures, that she launched contacts in the US. Publications on the cover page of Gourmet Magazine, a sales exhibition at the Gallery Branca and the shop window decoration for Tiffany´s in Chicago followed, also a “Confectioner´s Art” Exhibition in the Crafts Museum in N.Y.C in 1988.

Gertie Fröhlich received hundreds of orders from the US and from all over the world. The whole family helped in the production. Despite high demand Gertie Fröhlich´s main profession is painter and graphic artist. She produced her gingerbread models to a limited number and each collection sold out immediately. A waiting list has kept the collection to a small but refined scale.

To retain the traditional high quality standard and exquisite design of the products, each figure is made of homemade gingerbread dough (after a family recipe), formed and decorated by hand.