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      Halleroed combines futuristic and primitive for Acne Studios store in Chengdu

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      Fashion brand Acne Studios has opened its latest store in China, which was designed by Stockholm studio Halleroed and is located in the submerged SKP department store designed by Sybarite in Chengdu, China.

      The 338-square-metre store has a discrete sandstone exterior marked by a red LED sign displaying the brand’s logo.
      Inside, grey sandstone walls contrast against sculptural tie-dye furniture in earthy tan hues by British designer Max Lamb.
      The store is located inside Chengdu’s SKP department store”Our inspiration was aesthetically playing with design from the 1980s and 90s, and how that period looked at the future,” Halleroed founder Christian Halleroed told Dezeen.
      “The inclined stone clad walls, the futuristic lighting together with the Daniel Silver mannequins – we thought of a futuristic space/computer age feel, but in a contemporary way of putting it together,” he added.

      “We clashed this with the Max Lamb sculpture-like furniture that has a more primitive, earthy feeling.”
      It features tactile, soft seating by Max LambAs well as the furniture, Lamb designed four fabric-clad touchscreens that are mounted on slim poles throughout the store and provide an overview of the brand’s current collection and stock availability.
      Expressive mannequins by artist Daniel Silver and a light installation by designer Benoit Lalloz help to add a futuristic feel to the space.
      Lighting was designed to feel “like a spaceship”Halleored, which has designed a number of Acne Studios’ stores, normally works with Lalloz on the lighting but said the Chengdu store lights have a different feel to those in other stores.
      “These were done a bit differently than previous since they are recessed in the ceiling, but still has the typical look of Benoit Lalloz,” Halleroed said.

      Concrete infrastructure informs Acne Studios’ limestone-clad Rue Saint Honoré store

      “We wanted the lighting to feel like a spaceship,” he added.
      A large mirrored column in the middle of the store reflects its pared-down interior, which features a colour palette informed by the grey hues used for early computer designs.
      A large mirrored column sits in the centre of the sandstone room”We used a very restrained palette with the grey, monochrome sandstone on the floor and angled walls, high gloss white walls and ceiling, the black coves in the ceiling, and for the fixtures brushed stainless steel,” Halleroed said.
      “The Max Lamb and Daniel Silver pieces contrast this, with their brown batik fabric and the white with patina and silver mannequins.”
      Previous Acne Studios store designs featured on Dezeen include a “monolithic” store in Paris and a pink-ceiling flagship store in Milan’s Brera district.
      The photography is courtesy of Acne Studios.

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      Space10 invites public into its Copenhagen HQ with kiosk-like design library

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      IKEA’s innovation lab Space10 has worked with interior designers Spacon & X to transform the ground floor of its headquarters into a library and community space, with a look that is meant to recall a simple kiosk.

      Located in a former fish factory in the city’s Meatpacking District, Space10’s offices now include a library of 100 future-focused books, a snack bar and a design shop, alongside an existing gallery and event space.
      While the ground floor was already used for community-facing events, Space10 set out to expand the offering beyond “temporary” interactions and create a space that people could access at their leisure all day.
      A library, snack bar and design shop have been added to the ground floor of Space10’s Copenhagen headquarters”We wanted the ground floor to play a much stronger role in our mission to involve the many and diversify our perspectives,” Space10 designer Kevin Curran told Dezeen.
      “By opening a new library for the public, we suddenly have a space that feels alive, warm and welcoming, and it lets visitors spend as much time here as they like and explore Space10 on a daily basis.”

      The studio worked with its long-time collaborators Spacon & X on the interior design, which references kiosks and particularly the newsstands of New York to create an accessible setting.
      The design of the space was informed by newsstands with their racks of magazinesAccording to Spacon & X co-founder Svend Jacob Pedersen, the aim was to create a welcoming space where “nothing should be too curated or feel precious”.
      “It was important for us to work with understated but recognisable cultural symbols through materials and form so that the project itself encourages interaction and is perceived as public,” Pedersen said.
      The space is intended to be open to the public all day”From the beginning, the classic New York newsstand was a big inspiration as its layered setup with only the magazine’s headline and title visible piques curiosity and almost demands visitors to pick them up and browse,” Pedersen continued.
      “Furthermore, you can pick up a soft drink from the fridge, a souvenir cup from the shelves or some gum at the counter – an informal invitation to stay and browse.”
      This approach extended to the furniture choices, which blend custom pieces with more everyday designs, along with playful accessories such as metal pencil trays that recall hot dog holders.
      Accessories shaped like hot dog holders help to recall the kiosk environment”We shopped generic, almost iconic, cafe aluminum chairs and tables that many will recognise from their preferred kebab joint or touristy cafe, almost as an universal welcome sign,” said Pedersen.
      Among the custom pieces are shelves and seating with wooden cylindrical frames held together by looped steel joinery. The joinery is typically used to partition cattle farms and was partly chosen to reference the building’s location in the Meatpacking District, where meat businesses were formerly based.
      The steel joinery was fabricated for the cattle industry, where it is used for partitioningThe modular shelving for the library is finished with bright fabric pockets made of Hallingdal 65, a blend from Danish company Kvadrat with wool for durability and viscose for brilliance.
      At the centre of the kiosk space is Spacon & X’s industrial-looking Super Super table, made of sheets of bolted aluminium, and suspended above it is a custom lighting design made of upcycled office ceiling lights set in a wooden frame.

      Space10 proposes linking NFTs to furniture to encourage better care

      The studios chose materials and furnishings with the aim of reducing the carbon footprint of transportation and supporting the local economy, selecting metal for its durability and aluminium in particular for its recyclability.
      They also sought to cultivate an aesthetic that could be replicated at Space10 projects around the world with local and preferably upcycled materials.
      Upcycled materials have been used to make elements such as a wooden suspended lighting featureThe library at the space features 100 books curated by Space10 on the subject of how to build a better future for people and the planet. These will be supplemented with titles put forward by guest curators and the community.
      The building also includes two private floors for the Space10 team — an upper office area and a basement fabrication laboratory and tech studio.
      Space10 will open the doors of the ground floor to the public on January 26. It plans to host two exhibitions each year and keep all its events free to attend.
      The library features 100 titles chosen by Space10 for their ideas about designing for the futureSpace10 and Spacon & X have worked together since 2015, when Spacon & X designed the first version of Space10’s office. They later updated those offices together in 2019 to move away from an open-plan design.
      Space10 works “with and for IKEA”, functioning as an independent innovation lab whose research feeds into the brand’s future planning.
      Its recent projects have included the Carbon Banks NFT concept designed to inspire better care for furniture and the Updatables concept for upcycling furniture using artificial intelligence.
      Photography is by Seth Nicholas.

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      Biophilic design informs “otherworldly” moss-covered installation at luxury bag store

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      Creative studio Spacemen looked to biophilic design principles to construct a tree-like installation covered in moss, which forms the centrepiece of a flagship outlet for luxury leather brand Braun Büffel in Malaysia.

      Described by Shanghai-based Spacemen as a store that straddles an art gallery and a laboratory, the studio wanted to create an interior that would attract a younger audience and serve as “an abstract oasis” in Putrajaya’s IOI Mall.
      Spacemen designed the store interior for bag brand Braun BüffelCentral to this design is an oversized, organic-shaped sculpture clad in preserved flat moss, ball moss and lichen that is suspended from an illuminated disc in the middle of the shop.
      A rounded table clad in the same plants was positioned directly below to complete the installation. It also doubles as a plinth for Braun Büffel leather bags, which are displayed sparsely across the store like museum artefacts.
      It is characterised by a central moss-covered sculptureThe sculpture takes cues from biophilic design – a concept that encourages a closer connection between humans and nature when creating interior spaces.

      “The form was designed to seem as though it is sprouting from the ground towards the ceiling – towards the sun – hence why we integrated the membrane lighting ceiling above it, just like how it would grow out of a beaker in a mad scientist’s lab towards natural light,” explained Spacemen founder Edward Tan.
      “We envisioned an otherworldly concept akin to something out of a Hollywood sci-fi movie,” he told Dezeen.
      A green onyx feature wall was placed at the back of the storeTan said that Spacemen adopted a “maximal minimalism” approach when creating the store interiors, in an attempt to challenge the neutral shapes and colours often associated with luxury.
      Throughout the shop, lime plaster walls and bright white terrazzo floors are interrupted by various ornate display units and shelves magnified by floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

      Louis Vuitton overhauls stores with Yayoi Kusama polka-dots and life-like animatronics

      This cabinetry is made from decadent slabs of swirly orange onyx and jade marble, some of which are topped with glass vitrines that reveal small leather goods.
      Spacemen placed a green onyx feature wall at the back of the store, which sits behind furniture including a bespoke curved bench created from the same material as well as a custom oak armchair.
      Bespoke seating creates a waiting area for customersExplaining the decision to incorporate biophilic design into the Braun Büffel outlet, Tan said, “I think with the pandemic, people have taken to appreciating nature a lot more than before.”
      “This is especially true for people living in big cities where they live in apartments and are confined to office cubicles all the time, and do not have access to nature and greenery as much as they should.”
      “Therefore it has become a new form of luxury to be able to afford lush greenery and gardens indoors,” he concluded.
      Green and orange hues add colourful accents to the spaceOther retailers featuring similar designs include a store in Seattle for beauty brand Glossier with a mossy mushroom-covered mound and a Celine boutique in Paris that is characterised by large expanses of brass and marble.
      The photography is by David Yeow Photography.
      Project credits:
      Interior design: SpacemenMoss artist: Ohsum Mossum

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      Louis Vuitton overhauls stores with Yayoi Kusama polka-dots and life-like animatronics

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      Luxury brand Louis Vuitton has transformed its stores across the world for the launch of its anticipated capsule collection with Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama.

      The launch of the collaboration has seen a number of key stores across the world redecorated with Kusama’s signature polka-dots, life-like animatronics of Kusama painting in the windows of the stores and an inflatable replica of Kusama peering over the roof of Louis Vuitton’s Champs-Élysées store.

      Louis Vuitton’s Paris store is one of the numerous locations that have been decorated to mark the collaboration
      Louis Vuitton’s Champs-Élysées store, an art-deco building built in 1912, encompasses the largest of the Kusama activations. Large brush stroke polka dots were placed across the facade of the building and paired with an oversized, human-like replica of Kusama, which was tied to and peering over the roof of the building.
      In New York’s Meatpacking District, a Louis Vuitton pop-up location was transformed into a “canvas” for Kusama’s vision. The space was blanketed in yellow and covered in black polka dots of varying sizes across its walls, floors and ceiling.
      Pop-up stores were opened across the worldReflective chrome spheres were organised in the shape of Louis Vuitton’s logo and suspended throughout the interior of the pop-up space, endlessly reflecting the spotted motif and the capsule collection, which is exhibited throughout the space.
      “Louis Vuitton celebrates its latest collaboration with Yayoi Kusama in New York with a special pop-up space in the Meatpacking District which has been transformed into a canvas for her vision and iconic art which opens to the public on January 6th,” said the brand.
      The stores were decorated in polka-dots and mirrored spheresA pop-up located in Soho, New York, was similarly decorated in Kusama’s spotted motif, brush stroke spots in hues of red green, white and blue covering the white-painted storefront, interior walls, ceiling and floors.
      The collection is the second collaboration between Louis Vuitton and Kusama, returning a decade after the fashion house and artist first collaborated in 2012.

      Yayoi Kusama wraps New York Botanical Garden trees in polka dots

      In 2006, Louis Vuitton’s then creative director Marc Jacobs approached Kusama and met with her at her studio where she hand-painted a Louis Vuitton Ellipse bag with her famed polka dot motif – the beginning of what would be one of Vuitton’s most successful artist collaboration.
      Six years later, in 2012, Jacobs released a collection of Kusama-painted bags and ready-to-wear pieces to coincide with her 2012 retrospective at New York City’s Whitney Museum of Modern Art.
      A pop-up store in Tokyo included a life-like Kusama installationA pop-up space in Harajuku, Tokyo continues the yellow and black theme. The ground floor of the space was lined in yellow with black spotted motifs, while the colours were inverted for the first floor, which has a black base with yellow spots across its surface.
      Elsewhere across the world, select Louis Vuitton stores saw life-like and human-scale animatronics of Kusama placed in the window displays with the robotic replica of Kusama repeatedly painting polka-dots onto the surface of the glass.
      The pop-up spaces were used to display the limited edition collectionIn 2020, Kusama placed over 1,000 mirrored balls on the surface of a pond and wrapped trees in polka dots at the New York Botanical Garden as part of an outdoor exhibition.
      Louis Vuitton recently unveiled a collection of 200 trunks reimagined by 200 architects and designers, including Frank Gehry and Sou Fujimoto, to celebrate its founder’s 200th birthday.
      The photography is courtesy of Louis Vuitton.

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      Celine recalls “vintage spirit” at Rue Saint-Honoré boutique

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      Celine creative director Hedi Slimane channelled “French elegance” when designing the latest Celine boutique in central Paris, which features expanses of brass and marble as well as Slimane-designed furniture.

      Located on Paris’ Rue Saint-Honoré, known for its luxury shopping, the store sits within a 19th-century Haussmann building and connects to a Celine Haute Parfumerie store that was opened in 2019 and references old art deco perfumeries.
      The store was designed by Hedi SlimaneSet over two floors, the 137-square-metre store is dedicated to the brand’s leather goods, accessories and fine jewellery. Its interior was designed by Celine’s creative director, Slimane, who has helmed the fashion house since 2018.
      The Rue Saint Honoré store continues Slimane’s vision for Celine’s global store interior identity, which the brand explained recalls a vintage spirit and ideas of French elegance – much like its recently opened Bond Street store.
      It references French modernism”Conceived as a timeless setting, the architecture of the boutique gives a sense of intimacy, precisely recalling old art deco perfumers’ designs,” said Celine.

      “The ground floor, dedicated to leather goods, fine jewellery and women’s accessories, is structured around the ideas of French elegance and ‘vintage’ spirit.”
      Slimane also referenced French modernism through the choice of materials and furniture for the store.
      Brass, wood, marble and glass were used throughout the storeIn a nod to the neighbouring perfume store, whose walls were clad in sheets of imposing black and white marble, identical sheets of antique marble were used for the floors of the accessories and jewellery store.
      A jewel-like, golden brass, semi-helicoidal staircase tops the white-veined marble floor and leads visitors up to a mezzanine level and Parisian-style salon used to display artisanal bags from Celine’s Haute Maroquinerie collection.

      Hedi Slimane uses “French elegance” to define Celine store in London

      The upper level of the store is host to an antique marble fireplace, zigzagging walls of mirrored panels and wooden furniture wrapped in leather and shaggy fur designed by Slimane.
      Oxidised metal panels clad the walls of the ground floor between backlit, ribbed glass louvres, while vitrine-style shelving and cabinetry recall opulent modernist interiors.
      The store will stock accessories and jewelleryArt pieces selected from the Celine Art Project are displayed throughout the store, including a totem by Ian LC Swordy, a painting by Will Boone and a suspended glass and golden brass mobile by Virginia Overton that was personally commissioned by Slimane.
      Earlier in December, Slimane showcased his 17th collection for Celine which saw the creative director return to Los Angeles to present his Autumn Winter 2023 womenswear show at the Wiltern Theatre – an art deco landmark built in 1931.
      Following Slimane’s appointment as Celine’s creative director, he began carrying out renovations of Celine stores worldwide developing signature design codes for the brand’s store interiors.
      The photography is courtesy of Celine.

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      RtA NYC store by Dan Brunn features broken crystal and red fitting rooms

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      Pieces of broken crystal fill a display case that runs the length of this Manhattan boutique, completed by Los Angeles-based architect Dan Brunn for streetwear brand Road to Awe.

      The store on Mercer Street in SoHo is both the third location for Road to Awe, also known as RtA, and the third designed by Dan Brunn Architecture.
      Road to Awe’s third store by Dan Brunn is divided by a central displayFollowing outposts in West Hollywood and Las Vegas, the new 2,152-square-foot (200-square-metre) space occupies the ground floor of a historic landmarked building.
      “Honoring the more industrial nature of its surroundings, RtA Soho takes on a streamlined and contemporary approach with a raw edge directly opposing the more playful and ostentatious style of the Vegas location and serene nature of its West Coast counterpart,” said Brunn’s studio.
      The row of vitrines is filled with pieces of broken Baccarat crystalThe open floor plan is divided along the centre by a line of mirrored chrome vitrines.

      Created in collaboration with crystal brand Baccarat, the display contains 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms) of broken crystal that would have otherwise been discarded.
      Clothing is hung from suspended steel beamsEach case has an angled top to create a faceted surface, while a red glow surrounds the base of the structure.
      The crystal pieces are also back-lit, “casting rays of light throughout the store like a reverse disco ball” according to the brand.
      At the rear, a fitting room area is entirely red and illuminated with neon stripsMenswear and womenswear are displayed either side of this central axis, hung from floating horizontal blackened steel beams that help to divide the space.
      Brunn retained the original wooden flooring, but painted it in a gradient that blends from white to black towards the rear of the store.

      Delicate glass shelves illuminate Las Vegas boutique by Dan Brunn Architecture

      At the back is an entirely red area that provides access to the fitting rooms.
      A velvet-covered seating module runs down the middle of this space, flanked by repeated arches that puncture the side walls and are outlined by neon lights.
      Areas of missing brick in the fitting rooms are lined with gold leafNeon strips also traverse horizontally across the ceiling, while an LED display on the back wall plays RtA’s merchandising videos and fashion shows.
      Inside the fitting rooms, “valleys” in the existing brick wall “were sporadically filled with gold leaf paint employing the Japanese kintsugi method of embracing the beauty in imperfection”, said the studio.
      The RtA NYC store is located in a historic building on Mercer StreetBrunn’s first store for RtA opened on Melrose Avenue in 2017, followed by his boutique at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas in 2019.
      The architect has also renovated a Frank Gehry-designed house for an illustrator and designed a long slender home spanning a brook for himself.
      The photography is by Brandon Shigeta.

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      Ten pop-up shop interiors featuring memorable designs

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      Our first lookbook of 2023 collects 10 pop-up shop interiors from around the world, from a swimming-pool-style store by fashion brand Jacquemus to a playful supermarket stocked with groceries made of felt.

      Pop-up shops are temporary retail spaces created as locations for brands to sell their products, generally installed for only a matter of weeks or months.
      Due to their fleeting nature, these stores often feature statement interior designs to capture the attention of their audiences, especially if their aim is to promote new or limited-edition goods.
      Showcasing a variety of material and colour palettes, here are 10 pop-up shops featured on Dezeen.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring suspended fireplaces, homes with sliding doors and interiors informed by Bauhaus principles.

      Image courtesy of SelfridgesLe Bleu, UK, by Random Studio and Simon Jacquemus
      Experience design firm Random Studio created a series of pop-up installations at London’s Selfridges department store that served as temporary shops for French fashion label Jacquemus between May and June last year.
      Titled Le Bleu, the surrealist installations included a pale blue tiled space that was informed by swimming pool changing rooms, complete with dark blue lockers and cubicles holding a series of smaller installations within them.
      Find out more about Le Bleu ›
      Photo by Calle HuthA Better Place to Think, Norway, by Snøhetta
      A Better Place to Think was an Oslo pop-up store designed by architecture studio Snøhetta for tablet brand reMarkable, which looked to the tranquility of libraries for its interior design.
      Warm-hued reading lamps positioned on divided wooden desks illuminated curved leather banquettes where visitors were invited to sit and read. A squiggly neon overhead light took cues from the shape and energy of handwriting.
      Find out more about A Better Place to Think ›
      Image courtesy of Lucy SparrowThe Sparrow Mart, USA, by Lucy Sparrow
      Sushi rolls, pork chops and a playful ATM machine all made entirely out of felt featured in a makeshift supermarket installation in Downtown Los Angeles by British artist Lucy Sparrow.
      The Sparrow Mart was stocked with 31,000 purchasable plush renditions of grocery staples, which were arranged along aisles in colourful rows that took cues from 1980s American supermarkets.
      “As a child, I was obsessed with the exotic, turbo-charged technicolour glow emanating from across the Atlantic,” the artist told Dezeen.
      Find out more about The Sparrow Mart ›
      Photo by Gray HamnerSKKN pop-up shop, USA, by Perron-Roettinger
      Design studio Perron-Roettinger adopted a minimalist colour and material palette when creating the first pop-up shop for SKKN, Kim Kardashian’s skincare and homeware brand.
      Located in a Los Angeles shopping mall until the end of last year, the store’s curved alcoves and sculptural counters were clad in raw plaster and cement, which acted as shelving for the reality TV star’s pared-back products.
      Kardashian opened another pop-up shop in 2021 to promote her underwear brand SKIMS, featuring glossy display units designed by Willo Perron.
      Find out more about this SKKN pop-up store ›
      Photo by Jasper FryMugler Bodyscape, UK, by Random Studio
      Random Studio recently dressed the interior of Corner Shop, Selfridges’ ever-changing retail space, with chrome-effect fragments designed to mimic women’s body parts. The pieces formed an installation celebrating 30 years of fashion brand Mugler’s fragrances.
      Called Bodyscape, the striking large-scale fragments were made from painted wood, while a drop-shaped sculptural centrepiece dispensed Mugler scent intermittently, and also produced undulating lighting when visitors approached it.
      “Seen from the street, the sculptural installation forms an abstract side view of a woman elegantly reclining,” said Random Studio.
      Find out more about Bodyscape ›
      Photo by Benoit FlorençonTiffany & Co pop-up shop, France, by OMA
      Pieces from jeweller Tiffany & Co’s 185-year history are currently on display at a pop-up shop in Paris designed by architecture studio OMA, which will be edited throughout this year until its dismantling in May.
      The labyrinthine store includes a dramatic blue rotunda showcasing designs from Tiffany’s extensive archive, which are encased within pyramidal glass plinths mirrored by gigantic images of the jewellery – blown up to give visitors a closer look at the pieces’ delicate features.
      Find out more about this Tiffany & Co pop-up shop ›
      Photo by Jonathan HökkloSelf-Portrait pop-up shop, USA, by Storey Studio
      Luxury fashion brand Self-Portrait showcased its ready-to-wear Autumn Winter 2019 collection at a New York pop-up store in the city’s SoHo neighbourhood designed by Storey Studio.
      An immersive setting was created by hanging drapes of translucent pink-and-white lace that the studio attached to a concentric circular wooden structure, while suspended tubes of LED lighting illuminated the interior.
      Find out more about this Self-Portrait pop-up store ›
      Photo courtesy of Axel Arigato”Upside-down” Axel Arigato pop-up shop, UK, by Avoir
      Axel Arigato footwear is currently for sale at this “upside-down” pop-up shop in Selfridges, designed for the streetwear brand by French studio Avoir to recall an inverted office.
      Trainers fitted with magnets stick to the walls of the space, which features familiar polystyrene grid ceilings and other office-like materials such as strip lighting and exposed wires.
      “The concept was to flip the script both physically and figuratively on what customers expect from a pop-up, turning all elements upside down through an industrial office lens in which the ceiling becomes the floor and vice versa,” said Axel Arigato.
      Find out more about this “upside-down” pop-up shop ›
      Photo by GlossierGlossier pop-up shop, USA, by Studio Lily Kwong
      Landscape designer Lily Kwong looked to the topography of Capitol Hill, Seattle, to create a local pop-up shop for beauty brand Glossier.
      Conceived in collaboration with Glossier, the store contained moss-topped mounds referencing rolling hills and covered with the region’s native plants.
      Pink and purple accents featured throughout the space and nodded to the brand’s brightly coloured make-up collection, which was displayed on white plinths.
      Find out more about this Glossier pop-up shop ›
      Photo by Topia VisionFatface Coffee, China, by Baicai
      Fatface Coffee was a pop-up coffee shop designed by architecture studio Baicai and presented for a month at Shenyang’s Window Gallery in China.
      The focal point was 300 forest-green beer crates forming a central rectilinear bar and cork-seated stools – an installation that intended to blend the city’s fondness for beer with a local coffee culture that is emerging.
      Bacicai opted for this central seating area to create an open space encouraging free circulation and challenged the conventional floor plan of a cafe.
      Find out more about Fatface Coffee ›
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring suspended fireplaces, homes with sliding doors and interiors informed by Bauhaus principles.

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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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