Meet woman who builds palaces out of gingerbread

Emily Garland always knew she was going to have a creative job, but she never thought she would give up her career to become a gingerbread architect.

After running her gingerbread business for 16 years, her creations are similar to those often seen on TV's Great British Bake Off.

The 43-year-old, from Hertfordshire, but originally from Essex, now makes a living out of creating giant structures from gingerbread, including castles and palaces from around the world.

It all happened when she had to quit her job as an administrator after being diagnosed with repetitive strain injury (RSI) in her wrists and arms.

Garland said she first started to experience pain in her wrists in 2008 and it ultimately led to her quitting her job.

At the time, Garland said her job involved a huge amount of typing and then she would work on her master's degree in musicology in the evenings.

"The amount of months I spent typing, and stressed, was insane," she said.

"I lost a lot of strength in my hands and arms.

"I lived with some friends and I had to ask them to change my bedsheets because I couldn't lift a whole duvet.

"I couldn't lift a kettle if it was full; I couldn't hold on while on the bus.

"There wasn't much talk about invisible disabilities. I would feel awkward taking a seat on the bus, but I also really would need one. But I looked fine.

"I struggled with that quite a lot."

Garland said: "I am grateful that it happened, because in a way I definitely would not have had the courage to quit my job if my health was fine and I had no other reason to."

She said she was "fairly disappointed" when her life took a corporate turn, and she "always hoped that I would have a creative job".

"I had to earn money — I was in London."

Her dad was an architect, she had "always loved building things" and the avid baker was always crafting sweet treats for friends and family.

After quitting her job, Garland said she was able to manage her wrist pain because she knew she could stop and start when she needed to.

The business idea came to her by complete chance after being given the task of making a cake for a friend's circus-themed birthday.

She made it entirely out of gingerbread and it was a success.

In 2010, aged 27, she launched her gingerbread business, but did not start earning what she regarded as a full-time wage until 2016.

In order to stay afloat, she said she ended up working a "bizarre set of jobs".

"There was a point where I genuinely had as my job title 'gingerbread baker, treasure hunt writer and arcade manager'."

"Now I have nothing physically wrong with my arms. I don't have the ongoing pain anymore," she said.

She said each project could take up to 160-175 hours of craftsmanship.

Every building starts out as a cardboard cut-out.

"For the large builds, I make 3D full version out of cardboard, so I don't really do much 2D sketching, that's not how I work. I work much better having it 3D in front of me."

Over her career she has created replicas of Lancaster House in London and the Palace of Versailles in Paris, both for the British Museum.

She also made replicas of Holkham Hall, in Norfolk, and the Ziggurat of Ur, in Iraq.

One of her favourite commissions was when bosses for Call of Duty, based in California, USA, asked her to make a replica of Nuketown and then requested her to set it on fire.

"I was asked to make and fully destroy a gingerbread building that no-one got to see or eat."

She said everything happened over Zoom and she just sent them footage that they used in the release of their Christmas game last year.

"The buildings I was making were part of Nuketown, so I had to nuke it and send more footage," she said.

"I had to take a blowtorch to my work and fully destroy and rip it to pieces."

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