Behind the Design: Pretzel Lover

Aug 18

In 2018, my friends and I declared it the Year of the Pretzel - again an 8 looks an awful lot like a Philly soft pretzel. We planned a road trip through Lancaster County to Lititz, PA so that we could taste and compare as many pretzels possible.

Because nothing screams fun like making a binder and a system, we each made our own binders (right) to house our pretzel tasting and grading rubric (below).

Click on the image above, and a new tab will open with the full size pretzel rating sheet for you to download

Keep an eye out:

Pretzel charms and jewelry coming
Fall 2021

I’ve been working on these 2 silver castings that were made from wax models I hand twisted. The pretzel on the left is a classic Philadelphia soft pretzel, and the pretzel on the right is the traditional twisted pretzel. When I shared this photo on Instagram, I wanted to give a little glimpse into why these pretzel forms are so fascinating to me.

Growing up in Pennsylvania (PA), pretzels are a ubiquitous snack food. South Eastern PA was settled by German immigrants, so the Bavarian pretzel tradition has deep cultural ties to this region of Pennsylvania where I was born and raised. The Philly soft pretzel with it’s iconic smooshed 8 shape is still one of the most affordable snacks you can find in the city. You can typically get a strip of 3 large soft pretzels for $2.

I didn’t realize quite how regional my passion for pretzels was until I moved to California in 2013. Every time I would go to a 7-11 to pick up a snack, I would be confronted by a chip aisle full of Takis and a wide assortment of hot sauce flavored chips (not a common sight on the East Coast), but would struggle to find a single bag of pretzels.

We stopped at the following places on our trip:

Dutch Country Soft Pretzels - New Holland, PA (8 AM - 5/6 PM Mon-Sat)
Martin’s Pretzels - Akron, PA (6 AM - 6 PM Mon-Sat)
Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery & Museum - Lititz, PA (10:30 AM - 4:30 PM Mon-Sat, 12-4 PM Sunday)