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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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      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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      Toronto beach house by Odami resolves “contradictory” context between waterfront and city

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      Canadian studio Odami has completed the interiors of a split-level home in Toronto, using light tones that nod to the nearby beaches of Lake Ontario.

      The Beaches House was completed for a client living near the city’s waterfront, which is lined with long stretches of sandy beaches.
      Odami’s design for the interiors drew inspiration from typical beach homes, while also offering a contemporary living environment in Canada’s largest city.
      The Beaches House takes cues from typical beach homes”Toronto’s Beaches neighbourhood presents a peculiar condition within the city,” said the studio, led by Aránzazu González Bernardo and Michael Norman Fohring.
      “To experience the area is to seamlessly transition between a natural and calm landscape, and an urban and lively atmosphere,” they added.

      The split-level home is located in TorontoOdami’s interior palette features typical beach-inspired finishes, such as textured wall panels of varying widths, sand-hued countertops, and plenty of tropical plants throughout the home.
      Throughout the living space, light wooden floors and creamy tones offer a tranquil environment.
      A skylight illuminates the steel-and-wood staircase”Responsible for the interior design, our goal was to create a home which would reflect this contradictory context: a house which would belong as much to the city as it would to a beach far removed from it,” Odami explained.
      At the centre of the house, a skylight illuminates the steel-and-wood staircase, helping to brighten the interiors and draw visitors upstairs as they move through the home.

      Oak staircase links split levels of Canadian house by Omar Gandhi

      “The central staircase, which winds its way up through the split levels of the house, was detailed with thin steel pickets and floating treads, continuing the rhythmic language of the paneling,” said the designers.
      This calmer palette contrasts some darker materials that were used in circulation spaces, such as a grey stone in the entrance hallway, and a bathroom where the walls and floors are lined with a dark terrazzo.
      Odami added dark terrazzo elements to the bathroom”In the bedrooms and bathrooms of the last floor, the sequence comes to rest, as light, repetitive elements give way to moments of stillness, calm, and dense materiality,” the studio explained.
      Odami was founded in 2017 in Toronto. Other projects from the Canadian studio include a collection of wooden furniture that was crafted from the same dying tree, and a restaurant where the walls are lined with roughly troweled plaster.
      The darker tones contrast with the home’s lighter elementsAlso in Toronto, the Winter Stations design competition recently unveiled the pavilions for its 2022 edition.
      The photography is by Doublespace Photography.

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      Green-painted sunroom with cathedral views features in renovated Toronto apartment

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      Canadian studio Odami has redesigned a 1980s apartment in Toronto with bold and rich features like dark quartzite, walnut and green walls. The project, called St Lawrence, involved renovating an apartment that was previously transformed from a parking garage in the 1980s, with finishes that Odami said had now become dull and outdated.

      Odami removed walls to open the kitchen to the skylight-topped dining room
      “[The apartment] came to us completely in its original state: popcorn ceiling; an enclosed and very dated kitchen; mirrored walls; and beige carpeted floors,” the local studio said. “With a new owner, the entire unit was in need of an extensive update.”
      Odami redesigned the 1400-square-foot (130-square-metre) apartment to make the most of two “very theatrical” elements: views of the Cathedral of St James and five level changes that are created by steps between the rooms.

      Dark walnut contrasts with quartzite in the kitchen

      “In general we were really looking for materials that were rich and had a lot of depth to them, which would create a sharp contrast with the white walls throughout,” studio co-founder Michael Norman Fohring told Dezeen.
      “The change of levels and the views make the space naturally very theatrical, and using dramatic material and colour juxtapositions sort of amplified this.”

      A ribbed, black quartzite fireplace features in the living room
      A green sunroom, whose decoration references the Cathedral of St James viewed through the window, is one of the standout spaces.
      “Pulling in the colours and shapes of the nearby Cathedral of St James, the room is painted completely in green, and fitted with a dramatic pendant,” said Odami.

      A black wooden table and chair furnish the space
      “With its warmth and depth this space marks a moment of calm and stillness, perched amidst the steady flow of the condo and the hectic city below,” it added.
      Walnut engineered hardwood flooring runs throughout the apartment and, aside from the sunroom, all the walls in the condo are painted bright white.

      A big window in the sunroom offers views of the Cathedral of St James
      In the kitchen, the studio removed a partial wall and existing cabinets so it could be entirely open to the adjoining, skylight-topped dining room. Particle board cabinets in the kitchen are covered with a dark walnut veneer with solid walnut handles, contrasting the Super White natural quartzite.

      Odami celebrates “earthly minimalism” at Sara restaurant in Toronto

      Walnut steps lead from the kitchen down into the living room. Rich, dark materials continue in the form of a ribbed fireplace made of a dark quartzite, called Diamante Nero, with a matching black wooden table and chair. Wooden logs are stacked in an inlet to the side of the fire.

      Steps lead from the living room down to two bedrooms
      Two bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms flank either side of the living room.
      The main bedroom suite was rearranged to include a walk-in wardrobe featuring white wardrobes with black handles. A skylight in the wardrobe floods natural light through a frosted glass wall into the bathroom.

      A translucent glass wall brings natural light into an en-suite bathroom
      Odami is an architectural, interior, and furniture design studio that Canadian designer Fohring founded in 2017 with Spanish architect Aránzazu González Bernardo.
      It has previously completed a restaurant in the city called Sara with curving plaster walls and designed a wood furniture collection made from one dying tree.
      Photography is by Kurtis Chen.

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