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    Traditional Korean pavilions inform open-sided Aesop store in Seoul

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    Skincare brand Aesop has collaborated with designer Samuso Hyojadong to create a store in Seochon, Seoul, that features an open facade and an oversized stone plinth.

    Positioned in one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Seoul’s Jongno-gu district, the Seochon outlet was created to “fit harmoniously within its local context”, according to Aesop’s design team.
    Aesop designed the Seochon store with Samuso HyojadongWhen designing the store, Aesop and Hyojadong took cues from the architecture of jeongjas – traditional Korean pavilions with no walls, which serve as spaces for resting and taking in the surrounding views.
    The street-facing facade was created with mesh metal screens that can open out entirely to create a storefront with no walls. Once closed, the woven metal backing creates translucent windows through which passersby observe the softly lit silhouettes of uniform rows of bottles.
    Reclaimed timber features on the interior”Samuso extended the floorplate outwards to create a threshold that conveys a generous sense of hospitality,” the Aesop design team told Dezeen.

    “One [jeongja] in particular that inspired us was the Soswaewon in the Damyang region, which was built in the sixteenth century and is surrounded by a verdant garden.”
    An oversized stone plinth displays Aesop productsFor the store’s material palette, the designers referenced the timber and stone that are typically used to build traditional Korean houses known as hanoks.
    A large, rough-edged stone plinth displaying clusters of products was positioned at the entrance while various wooden accents were created with timber reclaimed from salvage yards and an abandoned house.
    Copper was used to create geometric cabinetsThe store was also built on a raised stone platform, which nods to the traditional architecture.
    Hanji paper created from mulberry tree bark sourced from South Korea’s Gyeongnam province features on the store’s walls, which frame central geometric cabinetry and sleek taps made of locally produced aged copper.

    Aesop store in south Seoul is a cosy red-brick retreat

    The designers were restrained in their use of sanding, sealants and coatings when treating the materials, opting to embrace their “natural imperfections”.
    “Sensitivity to texture in this store is superlative,” reflected the design team. “Samuso wanted each material to express itself directly, without too much human intervention,” it continued, referencing the roughness of the stone and the reclaimed timber’s undulating texture.
    The metal was also used to design sleek tapsRosewood was used to create the store’s signature fragrance armoire, which is hidden from view until opened out and was conceived as a traditional Korean jewellery box, according to the design team.
    “Throughout the store, we were compelled by a desire to dissolve the boundaries between inside and outside, between the naturally occurring and the human-made,” concluded the designers.
    The store’s signature fragrance armoire was informed by Korean jewellery boxesKnown for stores that pay homage to their varied locations, Aesop has an outlet in Cambridge defined by handwoven bulrush shelves that nod to the nearby River Cam and a Sydney store furnished with domestic items to evoke 1960s Australian homes.
    The photography is courtesy of Aesop.

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      Odami creates textured minty interior for Aesop Palisades Village store

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      Mint green materials cover this store for skincare brand Aesop, which Toronto studio Odami designed for the Palisades area of Los Angeles.

      The Aesop store opened at the end of 2022 in the Palisades, a verdant corner of the city northwest of Santa Monica where several seminal modernist houses are located.
      In the center of the store are stainless steel sinks for testing the brand’s products”Aesop Palisades Village takes inspiration from its natural surroundings, as well as the area’s vernacular architecture, where local buildings are delicately perched within a cascading landscape of lush ridges and valleys,” said Odami.
      “Most notably, this includes celebrated local architect Ray Kappe’s own residence, a critical reference for the project.”
      Planters with tropical foliage are placed behind the sink and along the side wallThe same shade of pale green is used across the walls, ceiling, floors, display stand bases, and a sink for testing products in the centre of the store.

      The velvet curtain and upholstery fabric is matched to the microcement surfaces, resulting in a monotone texture throughout the small shop.
      Textured microcement surfaces and velvet curtains match to create a uniform effectBehind the full-height curtains, Aesop’s distinctive brown bottles are presented on shelves built using reclaimed walnut wood.
      The dark wood is also used for countertops, individual shelves, and a storage unit that sits below a large product display set into one wall.
      The mint-green curtains open to reveal more products displayed on reclaimed walnut shelves”Gently placed amongst this unfolding landscape, the various storage and display requirements are resolved as long horizontal planes, composed of either reclaimed wood or stainless steel, to create an interplay of levity and mass,” Odami said.
      The sinks, which are lined with stainless steel, face a planter brimming with tropical foliage – a feature repeated perpendicularly along the adjacent side wall.

      Victorian balusters pattern surfaces at Aesop Yorkville store by Odami

      A skylight above the flora brings in extra natural light into the space, while a low bench offers customers a place to sit and pause.
      “Together, the design for Aesop Pacific Palisades aims to create a biophilic environment, elevating the ritual of self-care through the presence and evocation of nature,” said Odami.
      A bench is provided for customers to sit and pauseThe Toronto studio was founded in 2017 by Spanish architect Aránzazu González Bernardo and Canadian designer Michael Fohring.
      The team has completed a wide range of projects, from residential and restaurant interiors to a furniture collection, as well as another Aesop store located in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood.
      The store is located in Los Angeles’ Palisades neighbourhoodAesop is renowned for the interiors of its stores, which each have a distinctive design relating to their location.
      Recently completed include an outpost in London’s Marylebone that’s organised to reference a bookshop, and another in Cambridge, England that features handwoven bulrush shelves.
      The photography is by Rafael Gamo.
      Project credits:
      Client: AesopDesign: OdamiGeneral contractor: Precise Contractor IncFabrication: Dayone DesignsArchitect of record: WORD Design x ArchitectureEngineering: RKM Consulting Engineers Inc

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      Piles of green-hued books characterise London Aesop store

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      The interior of London’s most recent Aesop store in Marylebone was organised to reference a bookshop and features bespoke timber cabinetry by furniture designer Sebastian Cox.

      Skincare brand Aesop’s in-house design team created the concept for the Marylebone store, which recently relocated from its original home in the London neighbourhood to Marylebone High Street.
      The Marylebone store features piles of green booksThe team took “material references” from the British Library on Euston Road and attempted to emulate the layout of traditional bookshops by choosing warm timbers and towering piles of pale green books to decorate the interior.
      Divided into a main shop and an area for personal skin consultations, the L-shaped store features handmade cabinetry by Cox throughout.
      Olivier Cousy added frescos to the ceiling troughsThe shelving is defined by gently rounded edges, which Cox crafted from lime-washed oak and stained with linseed oil to enhance the timber’s warm appearance.

      He designed the cabinetry with flexible joinery that would allow the furniture to be disassembled and transferred elsewhere if needed.
      Sebastian Cox designed timber cabinetry throughout the interiorOversized rattan lampshades were also chosen for the main shop area, which displays uniform rows of Aesop products and includes large, metallic communal sinks built into the timber cabinetry.
      The store’s also features ceiling troughs with custom-made geometric frescos by artist Olivier Cousy.

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      Cousy was informed by Marylebone’s many green squares when painting the designs, which are geometric arrangements of autumnal colours – compositions that take cues from expressionist artist Paul Klee’s 1922 work Tower in Orange and Green.
      “Architecturally, our design method is to connect to the context of the locale, weaving ourselves into its fabric,” said Aesop chief customer officer Suzanne Santos.
      Wooden sinks characterise the skin consultation areaIn the skin consultation area, a sandy-hued, floor-to-ceiling curtain can be pulled to give customers privacy while geometric timber sinks were built into the space’s cabinetry.
      Known for its array of stores that pay homage to their individual locations, Aesop’s other outlets include a branch in London’s Piccadilly Arcade with marble fixtures that filmmaker Luca Guadagnino designed to reference the area’s jewellery boutiques, and a Cambridge store by British studio JamesPlumb with hemp and bulrush accents that nod to the nearby River Cam.
      The photography is by Alixe Lay. 

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      JamesPlumb fuses bulrush and hemp elements at Cambridge Aesop store

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      London design studio JamesPlumb blended handwoven bulrush shelves with earthy hemp accents to create the interiors for this Aesop store in Cambridge, which takes cues from the nearby River Cam.

      Located on the city’s Trinity Street, the Aesop outlet was conceived as a “woven reading room” that provides a place to shop and leaf through books, according to the Australian skincare and cosmetics brand.
      The JamesPlumb-designed shopfront features a facade informed by leatherThe store’s understated shopfront is painted a dark brown hue informed by well-worn leather, which nods to antique book bindings in reference to Cambridge’s history of academia.
      Inside, a curved and slatted window seat doubles as a plinth for potted pelargoniums that frame the store’s light-filled, street-facing room featuring earthy-toned walls.
      Potted pelargoniums line a street-facing window seatThis space is defined by oversized, textured shelves created from freshwater bulrush plants – locally sourced and handwoven by rush weaver Felicity Irons of Rush Matters.

      “The city itself and the surrounding landscape were the starting point for our design,” studio founders Hannah Plumb and James Russel told Dezeen.
      “The River Cam plays a huge part in that – we were increasingly drawn to it and felt strongly that it sets the pace and the pulse of the city of Cambridge.”
      Hemp and bulrush form shelving and other cabinetryOther shelving in this room is made from hemp grown on the nearby Margent Farm, which was combined with bio-resin to form geometric slabs of cabinetry that display various Aesop products, as well as a large sink.
      “[The hemp] absorbs a huge amount of carbon as it grows, and to be so local to the project was wonderful,” acknowledged Plumb and Russel.
      “We wanted to use materials that were as local as possible, and bulrush being literally of the local waters made sense – both because of its beauty and tactility, and also because of the chance to use a material that would travel so few miles, and use so little energy in production,” they added.

      Aesop’s London store takes its colour from the red sandstone of Glamis Castle

      At the back of the store, another room features walls painted in a darker hue than the street-facing space, which takes cues from the brown flowers of bulrush plants.
      Visitors are invited to sit in a low-slung antique armchair upholstered in floral fabric or browse the various books displayed on the same hemp and bulrush cabinetry that exists throughout the store.
      The back room is dressed in darker huesOriginal nineteenth-century polished wooden floorboards also feature in both rooms and intend to echo the outlet’s emphasis on local history.
      “Each Aesop store has its own character, and for this one, we responded specifically to its location in the heart of Cambridge,” concluded Plumb and Russel.
      Similar shelving found in the front room features various books on displayThis Cambridge branch is not the first Aesop store designed by JamesPlumb. The studio also created one in London’s Bloomsbury where water runs from shelf to shelf and a stone-based store in Bath that celebrates the city’s architectural landscape.
      Other Aesop outlets worldwide include a Tokyo branch defined by plaster and steel and a Toronto store featuring Victorian balustrades.
      The photography is by Oskar Proctor. 

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      Victorian balusters pattern surfaces at Aesop Yorkville store by Odami

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      The history of Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood informed this store for skincare brand Aesop, which local studio Odami has given ruby-toned walls and smooth beige counters.

      Odami, a design studio based several blocks west of the Aesop Yorkville shop, used features typical of the area as a starting point for elements of the design.
      Aesop’s third store in Toronto includes a “fragrance library” for testing the brand’s new aromas”The interior takes inspiration from the downtown area’s architectural and societal history – starting with the Victorian houses that populate the district, and the lanes and squares where communities have gathered over the decades,” said a statement from the brand.
      The profile of balusters found across nearby buildings and porches is translated as a closely repeated pattern that forms maple wainscoting around the interior.
      The profile of a Victorian baluster forms wainscoting around the storeWalls and ceiling are painted oxblood red, creating a dusky and intimate atmosphere inside the compact space.

      “The design is anchored by a sense of warmth, and sees traditional materials imagined anew,” said Aesop. “The geometry is akin to that of a bustling town square: a large and open space with smaller enclaves around its perimeter.”
      Walls, ceilings and furniture are coloured ruby red, while counters and sinks are beigeSeating and counters that are coloured to match the walls blend into the background, while units that have sinks for testing skin and hair products stand out in pale beige.
      The largest basin is positioned in the centre of the store, incorporating three faucets and doubling as a tea station.
      The wall colour creates an intimate atmosphere, while allowing the signature Aesop bottles to stand outA slender, metal light fixture is suspended horizontally above, directing light from a trio of tubes down onto the central counter.
      Three pale-toned cylinders set into the back wall form a “fragrance library” for the brand’s growing collection of aromas.

      MSDS Studio illuminates Aesop store in Toronto with collection of compact lamps

      Two tubes display the signature Aesop bottles, while the third has a clear front and acts as an infusion chamber for items of clothing.
      Odami was founded in 2017 by Spanish architect Aránzazu González Bernardo and Canadian designer Michael Fohring, and has completed several interiors in its base city.
      The central countertop includes a long sink and also doubles as a tea stationThey include the Sara restaurant, where a roughly plastered wall curves over the dining area, and a renovated 1980s apartment with a green-painted sunroom.
      This is the third Aesop location in Toronto, following a store designed by MSDS on Queen Street West, and another in the Downtown district.
      The history of the store’s Yorkville location provided references for its designThe brand regularly collaborates with local architects and designers on its store interiors around the world.
      Among the most recent are an outpost in Tokyo by Case-Real that features coarse plaster walls, and another in London by Al-Jawad Pike that’s filled with red sandstone from Scotland.
      The photography is by John Alunan

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      Case-Real contrasts plaster and steel inside Aesop store in Shinjuku

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      Coarse plaster walls offset glinting stainless-steel display fixtures in this restrained store that architecture studio Case-Real has designed for Aesop in Shinjuku, Tokyo.The Aesop store occupies a glass-fronted retail unit in Shinjuku, a buzzing, tourist-heavy ward of Tokyo populated with bars, eateries and neon-lit billboards.

      Case-Real used just two materials to create the store’s simple interior
      When it came to designing the store’s interiors, Case-Real wanted to capture both what it describes as a sense of “artificial chaos” that permeates Shinjuku and the natural quality of Aesop’s skincare products.

      The locally based studio decided to use two contrasting materials that it felt reflected the dichotomy of natural and artificial – plaster and steel.

      Plaster covers the store’s walls, while steel has been used for display fixtures
      All of the store’s gently curving walls are coated with coarse beige plaster, which leaves behind a textured surface finish.
      The same plaster has been applied to a section of the store’s facade, creating a simple backdrop for Aesop’s logo.

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      Paint in the same beige hue has been washed across the ceiling and floor.

      A counter where customers can test products is also made from steel
      Shiny stainless steel has then been used to craft a series of lengthy display shelves that bend in line with the walls and several low-lying cabinets where extra stock can be hidden away, complete with steel handles.
      The metal has additionally been used to make the store’s service desk, as well as a long counter inbuilt with round washbasins where customers are invited to test out products or observe demonstrations from staff.
      A border of steel has also been created around the entrance doorway.

      Plaster gives the walls a rough surface finish
      The only other feature that Case-Real has incorporated in the store is a chunky plaster bench seat supported by cylindrical steel legs.
      It has been placed directly in front of a window that looks onto the busy streets of Shinjuku, allowing customers to quietly sit and people-watch.

      Plaster also appears on the store’s facade
      Case-Real was established in the year 2000 and is led by designer Koichi Futatsumata. Four years ago, the studio designed the interiors of another Aesop store in the Japanese city of Sapporo, covering its walls with locally-sourced volcanic stone.
      The studio’s Aesop Shinjuku store is shortlisted in the small retail interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. It will compete against projects such as the Pinocchio, a tiny 4.5-metre-wide bakery in Yokohama, and the Glossier pop-up in Seattle, where products are displayed amongst grassy mounds covered in wildflowers.
      Photography is by Daisuke Shima.
      Project credits:
      Design: Koichi Futatusmata, Yuki Onita (Case-Real)Construction: &SLighting plan: BRANCH lighting design (Tatsuki Nakamura)

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      Aesop's London store takes its colour from the red sandstone of Glamis Castle

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      Precast stone blocks coloured with red sandstone from Glamis Castle in Scotland form the walls of this refuge-style Aesop store that architecture studio Al-Jawad Pike has created in a west London shopping centre.The studio designed the small store for skincare brand Aesop to be a retreat from the bustling aisles of Westfield shopping centre in Sheperd’s Bush.
      “We wanted the store to be a refuge from the busy mall environment, it is a sort of building within a building – using genuine masonry construction rather than applied finishes or surfaces,” Al-Jawad Pike co-founder Jessam Al-Jawad told Dezeen.

      Al-Jawad Pike chose to build the walls of the store from precast stone blocks, which enclose the space and create a feeling akin to a walled garden. The curved form of the walls is also meant to reference the undulating brickwork of Uruguayan engineer Eladio Dieste.

      “The concept was to create a kind of walled garden within the mall,” said Al-Jawad.
      “It was inspired by the ‘crinkle crankle’ wall of the English countryside as well as the structures of Eladio Dieste, which both use an undulating waveform to give rigidity to a single skin of masonry.”

      Earthy tones have been applied throughout the store. Powder from the same red sandstone that was used to make the 17th-century Glamis Castle in Scotland has been used to colour the precast stone blocks.
      The resulting red blockwork walls, which were built using two standard shapes of precast blocks, have been paired with red concrete-tile flooring and a clay plaster ceiling.

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      “We wanted to use a warm colour to provide a sense of natural earthiness that reflected the red bricks of typical masonry walled gardens, said Al-Jawad.
      “The colour is called Glamis red named after the red sandstone of Glamis Castle in Scotland.”

      Set against the earthy red backdrop, Aesop’s products are displayed on stainless steel shelves. While the main space is broken up by three cast resin sinks that were produced by Sabine Marcelis.
      “We hope we created a calm ambience that enables customers to engage with the Aesop products,” Al-Jawad explained.
      “The hand-washing sinks which are a big part of the customers’ interaction with the product and the sales people are also given centre stage – being made out of honey-coloured resin they also look a bit like big bars of sculpted soap.”

      Aesop often allows its designers to create monotonal stores. For its Sydney store, architecture studio Snøhetta used granite to covers almost every surface, while Frida Escobedo used rammed-earth brickwork throughout its store in Brooklyn. Bernard Dubois also clad the walls of the brand’s Brussels store in distinctive yellow Belgian bricks.
      London-based Al-Jawad Pike was established by Al-Jawad and Dean Pike in 2014. The studio has previously used pigmented concrete blockwork for the exterior and interior of a south London home extension and combined brick, concrete and timber for an extension to a home in Stoke Newington.
      Photography is by Ståle Eriksen.

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