Sweden's festive gingerbread competition

These traditional Swedish Christmas treats are gingerbread houses, which families usually enjoy building together.

This is the annual gingerbread house competition, which is run by the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design, ArkDes. This year it has the theme “together”.

ArkDes uses this fun tradition to introduce the public to architecture. For ArkDes teacher Sara Sandell, it connects architecture to people’s lives.

Sara Sandell: "Architecture can feels a bit advanced and hard for people, but everybody have a relation to, to houses and architecture. So it, I think, gingerbread houses is a way to, to make it fun. And it’s a tradition that a lot of people do yearly at home, they bake together, family and friends. So this is a way to do it in a, in a grander scale."

Gingerbread houses have been part of Christmas in Sweden since the late 19th century. They’re thought to have come from Hansel and Gretel, a fairy tale which was written by the Brothers Grimm. Today, people decorate the houses with coloured sweets.

Competition rules help focus bakers on design. Every single piece of the house must be safe to eat.

Sara Sandell: "A lot of things go into baking. The, it’s planning and thinking ahead how you want pieces, materials, how they work together. So it’s a lot of things that, that, that goes with architecture in the design but also it’s, it’s fun, and everybody loves gingerbreads houses, right."

Competition prizes are divided between amateurs and professionals, such as architects, designers and chefs. There’s a prize for children under 12, and one for amateur bakers, all chosen by experts. Then there’s the people’s favourite, which is voted for by visitors to the exhibition.

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