Apollonia Poilâne  Apollonia Poilâne (born 1984 in New York City) is a Franco-American third-generation baker, CEO and gallerist based in Paris, France. She is the eldest daughter of Lionel Poilâne and Irena (IBU) Poilâne and sister of artist Athena Poilâne. Together with her sister, they own Poilâne bakery, which runs the world renowned, independent, family-owned Poilâne bakery that has been based at 8 rue de Cherche-Midi in Paris, France since 1932. The Poilâne bakery is reputed to be one of the world's best bakeries specializing in sourdough breads baked in wood-fired ovens and is considered Paris's most famous bakery. It is most well known for their nearly 4lb “miche Poilâne®” – a rustic, country style bread introduced to the bakery by Apollonia Poilâne's grandfather, bakery founder Pierre Leon Poilâne. Apollonia's mother, Irena Poilâne was an architect and after moving to Paris considered herself a “designer” focusing on interior architectural design, sculpting, and jewelry. She was considered a taste-maker throughout Paris and collaborated with the likes of Karl Lagerfield and Bernardeau ceramics. In his later years, Lionel Poilâne was considered the most-famous and celebrated baker worldwide. Alongside bread baking, he was a celebrity in his own right for and stood as a champion for artisanal craftmanship throughout France. He also cultivated a passion for aeronautics, eventually becoming a helicopter pilot and the President of the Groupement Français de l’Hélicoptère (or G.F.H., the French Helicopter Pilot's Association). From a young age, he found himself collaborating with Salvador Dalí, César and other prominent artists using bread as an inspiration and source material. Apollonia Poilâne grew up in this environment, educated in her mother's workshops in craftmanship and by her father's in the family's tradition of “the true taste of bread” – which focused not only on bread as food, but how bread touches all aspects of life. Lionel Poilâne had built the bakery into an internationally recognized name, known for the breads produced and his public persona. He is credited with being one of the leaders reviving a focus on artisan breadmaking at a time when industrialized breadmaking dominated and bread consumption was on a decline.