Shortbread: A Slice of the World
As our plane lifted off the snow-covered lands of Rovaniemi, leaving behind the frosty landscapes of Lapland, I found myself reflecting on the last seven days. The rush of experiences still buzzed in my mind—the Northern Lights, the crisp air, the laughter of friends. But as we ascended into the clouds and the world below shrank into a patchwork of white, one thought lingered.
Bread.
It had become my constant companion during the trip. As the only vegetarian in the group, I had navigated the menus with a quiet sense of uncertainty, opting for the simplest thing on every plate: bread. A loaf of hearty Finnish rye here, a slice of buttered baguette there, a crisp flatbread in between. My friends devoured their steaming plates of sausages and reindeer stew, while I happily settled for another slice of bread. It was something I’d become all too familiar with, but the more I thought about it, the more it struck me: bread is universal.
Every country we visited, every city we wandered through, had its version of this humble food. It didn’t matter whether it was Finnish rye, French baguette, or the warm pita we nibbled in Helsinki—it was the same staple, no matter where you were in the world. I realized that “bread” was one of the few words that didn’t need translation. Whether you were in the snow-covered silence of Lapland or the bustling streets of Helsinki, or anywhere else, “bread” was understood universally.
And in that moment, it wasn’t just about the food anymore. It was about the connections, the simplicity, and how something as small as a slice of bread could cross cultural lines and become something everyone, everywhere, could share. It made me think about how people, much like bread, are everywhere. Different, yet so familiar.
That’s when it hit me. A spark of inspiration—Shortbread.
I smiled to myself as the idea began to take root. Shortbread, like bread, was simple, accessible, and loved by so many around the world. But it also had a deeper meaning to me now. It was the embodiment of connection. A reminder that even the smallest things, like a slice of bread, could bring people together across borders. And what if I could build something that represented love? A brand that combined simplicity with warmth, just like the bread I’d shared with my friends.
The idea of Shortbread wasn’t just about the food—it was about creating something that could evoke the same feeling of comfort and togetherness that bread did for me on this trip. It would be more than a name. It would be a brand built on a global idea, one that tied back to shared experiences and the small, universal things that made us all feel at home, no matter where we were.
By the time we were descending into the familiar landscape of home, I had already begun to sketch the first ideas for Shortbread in my mind. It would be something different, something beautiful. And it all started with the most humble of things—bread.