From an Art Gallery Layoff to a Cake Phenomenon
An interview with Lucie Franc de Ferriere, the heart, soul and hands behind From Lucie.
Make Yourself at Home is a series of conversations with the people behind your favorite food, drinks, movements and destinations — the experts who have mastered the art of making you feel like you’re right where you belong.
There's something magical about the scent of butter and sugar transforming in the oven — a promise of comfort, celebration, and connection.
For this issue of Make Yourself At Home, I’m taking you behind the scenes with Lucie Franc de Ferriere, the heart, soul and hands behind From Lucie, a bakery that has become a beloved fixture in the Lower East Side. We talked about her childhood among French vineyards, her first cookbook and her dreams of a space where you can linger longer with a slice of cake.
On Getting Started
I've always been drawn to the idea of baking — the hands-on aspect, the creativity, and the pride that comes from making something from scratch and sharing it with the people you love.
Baking isn't like cooking, which often serves a practical purpose. Baking is about indulgence. It's a warm hug to yourself. You don't need a sweet, but you want one — and in that want, there's joy. You get to bring pleasure to the people around you.
I got into baking, in a way, thanks to Covid. I had completed a master's in Art History and moved to New York for a job at an art gallery on the Bowery. I worked there for three years until I was laid off during the pandemic. At the time, I was madly in love with my then-boyfriend — now husband — who had just opened a café and restaurant in the Lower East Side called Sunday to Sunday.
I grew up on a vineyard in the South of France, where I worked the vines every school holiday. I've always needed to work with my hands, and sitting still just wasn't an option. When we reopened the café with only the takeout window, serving coffee to the small group of locals who had stayed in the city, I started baking cookies, banana breads, and vegan treats for them. The joy on people's faces — and the fact that they kept coming back — gave me the confidence to keep going.
On Growing Up
I was raised by a mother who baked constantly and runs a tea room on the vineyard where cake was always a part of life. So I've always been surrounded by baking. I missed her cakes — flavorful, not too sweet, always made with intention — and I couldn't find anything like that in New York. That's really how it all started: baking to bring that feeling of home into the city, and then sharing it with others.
This is usually the part where people share a nostalgic story about baking their first cake at age ten in the French countryside, but in my case, I mostly remember watching my mother bake while I scraped every last bit of batter from the bowl and snuck way too many slices once the cake was done. I don't know if she never let me bake or if I just loved being around her in the kitchen, but I rarely baked myself as a child.
On Baking in New York
One of my first real baking memories came when I moved to New York at 22. I had just been gifted my first stand mixer and decided it was time to give it a try. I made a chocolate and coffee cake that didn't rise all that well, and chocolate éclairs that were delicious but far from being in a straight line. Still, something about the process felt right.
I realized that new hobbies — and even lifelong passions — don't always begin in childhood. Sometimes they begin in a tiny New York apartment, with a wobbly cake and a sense of curiosity.
It wasn't one single lightbulb moment. It was more of a slow build. After a year or two of baking out of a tiny kitchen and hauling butter, flour, and sugar around the Lower East Side on a cart, the orders just kept coming in. I'm not someone who likes to take huge risks, and I didn't come from much money, so I needed to feel confident that people would actually buy enough cake to help me cover rent.
On Finding a Location
Eventually, I found a small storefront through a website I'd never heard of before — it was cheaper than anything else I'd seen in the area. I launched a Kickstarter to raise the funds to help renovate the space. But truthfully, if it weren't for my friend Ashley (who owns L’Appartement 4F) constantly encouraging me to open a physical location, and for my husband who truly saw the potential in what I was doing, I might still be baking one cake a day from home.
On Childhood Dreams
Coming from a family with a deep sense of history — documents tracing back to the 1500s — I was always fascinated by the past. I grew up surrounded by my great-grandmother's paintings from her time as a student in Renoir's school in Paris, and that's where my passion for art history began.
At first, I wanted to be an auctioneer. Then, over time, I became drawn to the idea of curating art shows — creating exhibitions that could tell powerful stories, shift perspectives. I think that desire to express something meaningful through visual storytelling has stayed with me. I carry it into my cakes now. Each one is its own little curated world and decorated with intention.
On Growing Her Business
I'm incredibly thankful to have opened the bakery with my husband, who handles the finance and operations side — because I'm definitely not the most organized person. Building a strong team and surrounding myself with amazing managers has truly been the key.
Delegating was hard for me at first, but learning to trust others — and learning from them — has been one of the most important and rewarding shifts. You can't do it all, and trying to will only burn you out.
That said, one of the biggest challenges has been scaling up: baking more and opening access to my baked goods to a much larger number of customers. Sharing something so personal with the public is both amazing and a little terrifying. Suddenly, anyone can walk in and experience what you've poured your heart into. That kind of exposure is exciting, but it comes with vulnerability. (And let's be honest—the recurring bathroom leaks don't help either!)
On Her Schedule
No two days are exactly the same. My schedule really depends on cake orders, events, and the last-minute changes that always come up when you run your own business. Being adaptable is key. But in an ideal world, my day would start around 7am. I'd walk my dog, make myself a Yorkshire tea or a matcha, and maybe swing by to pick up flowers before heading to the bakery.
By the time I arrive, my team is already deep into baking. I'll spend the day building and decorating cakes, answering emails, and maybe snapping a few pictures. Around 6pm, I try to take a yoga class to wind down. Then it's either off to an event or back home to walk the dog again, cook dinner, and read a good book next to Gurpreet. A simple life, really.
On Her Upcoming Cookbook
I'm beyond excited — and incredibly proud — of this cookbook. When I first signed the contract, I did so a bit innocently, thinking it wouldn't be that hard…but oh my god, it's been a journey. And I'm still not at the finish line! I've truly poured my heart into it. It's made me emotional, vulnerable, and grateful to put all my recipes and personal stories into one place and share them with others. I really hope people feel connected to it.
The book is approachable for anyone starting from scratch, but it also invites more seasoned bakers to explore unexpected, original flavors. You'll find my forever favorites (like my carrot cake and chocolate chip cookies) as well as more intimate recipes, the kind of bakes I usually only bake at home for close friends.
On the Future
The cookbook has taken up most of my time and energy this past year, but I'm finally reaching the end of the writing process, and I'm starting to think about what's next. I'm not in a rush, but I know that having a proper commercial kitchen is becoming essential. The kitchen at the bakery is tiny — charming, but truly the smallest thing ever — so more space to bake would make a huge difference.
We've also been thinking about a sit down space, somewhere people can have a slice of cake and stay a while. Creating a space that feels like an extension of the warmth and joy behind our cakes is definitely something we're thinking about for the future.
Thank you for making yourself at home. 🍰 I’m so glad you’re here.
I love from Lucie!!! This was so awesome to read, it’s been very cool seeing the bakery evolve on IG.