By Fernando Cervantes Jr.

Soon a taste of France will come to Somerville in the form of a bakery, Michette Bakery, established by Thomas Ferté is set to open in the East Somerville area. Ferté, originally from a town 40 kilometers outside of Paris moved to New York to work as a lawyer.

According to him, being a lawyer was less of a choice and more of an expectation.

“There was a lot of social pressure to do a more serious type of job, more stable and reliable,” Ferté said. “I also found myself pigeonholed into a very specific area of law, I was doing finance law and I didn’t find myself anymore.”

But for Ferté, cooking and baking have been constant presences in his life, cooking and baking being inspirations throughout his life.

But changing the suits of corporate life to the aprons of the kitchen was not an easy decision for him. According to Ferté, the stability of corporate life is something hard to leave behind.

“I think the stability, and the pay, and there’s a lot of advantages to the traditional corporate jobs. But especially with COVID and the pandemic, the work environment has become less about the personal connections,” Ferté said.

After 2 years of deliberating his future career prospects, he went back to his homeland of France to learn the art of baking at a baking school. According to Ferté, he spent more than two years practicing his craft baking in various stores in Paris.

When asked what he wants Michette to represent when opened, community and artisanal goods were the main focus.

“I really wanted to open a place where the community to meet and to be able to exchange and find artisanal goods,” Ferté said.

For him, meeting new people and building new connections with the community is currently a big part of his job.

“It’s great! I think a very big part of my job is creating connections with people. It’s something that I value and it’s been great so far,” Ferté said.

Although the bakery’s brick-and-mortar location is not currently open, Ferté is selling bakery items. For more information about the bakery and its items visit: https://michette-bakery.com.