The open courtyard showcased a natural drainage system, nourishing the soil with rainwater collected from the day's precipitation. Insulation, fashioned from reclaimed paper and denim, embraced sustainable practices.

Collaborating with local artisans skilled in the construction of traditional Hanok houses, Aesop employed a blend of natural clay, boiled rice, straw, and water to build sturdy walls that will stand the test of time.

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A collaboration with MLKK Studio, Aesop Fashion Walk store is a captivating exploration of the untapped potential hidden within cloudy pattern board—an often overlooked furniture finishing material prevalent in 1970s and 1980s Hong Kong, treasured for its durability and affordability.

The forgotten stock of these intricately adorned panels in aged factories and distribution centres was sourced, and the designers embraced the challenge of transforming them into the floor by meticulously dismantling the reclaimed veneer into small shards then artfully assembled into a mosaic.

A gentle wash of pale blue from the mosaic envelops the vaulted ceiling, blurring the delineation between walls and ceiling with fluid lines, creating intimate alcoves.

Anchoring the space, a majestic basin, mirroring the curved geometry of the architecture becomes a focal point for gathering and connection.

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Aesop Duke of York Square in Chelsea draws inspiration from the captivating opening scenes of James Bond films. Designed in collaboration with the renowned Norwegian studio, Snøhetta, the store utilises its spacious dimensions to create dramatic forms and material contrasts.

The walls, made of earthen render washed in pale rose, pay homage to the local masonry with a shifting texture from rough to smooth. An existing central column anchors twelve arches that gracefully curve up and across the store, establishing a striking visual effect.

These sweeping structures create intimate zones around a hovering circular demonstration sink, complemented by a shallow reflective pool.

During the night, the walls shimmer as light reflects off the water. Fine steel lines embedded in the concrete floor mirror the arches, dividing the surface into smaller components and seamlessly blending utilitarian metal with rough cement.

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Designed in collaboration with Clare Cousins Architects on Wurundjeri Country, Aesop's second Collins Street store in Melbourne incorporates elements of civic architecture, echoing the nearby State Library of Victoria. The space exudes a sense of classical elegance, with a focus on robust materials and meticulous craftsmanship.

Upon entering, the high vaulted ceiling creates a hushed atmosphere, its textured surface crafted from salvaged and crushed Aesop bottles mixed with render. Australian Blackbutt timber envelops the curved walls, featuring generous shelves adorned with amber vessels reminiscent of books, while timber-clad individual basins with soft lighting evoke writing desks.

In the centre of the room, two travertine monoliths showcase Aesop's meticulously researched formulations for the skin, hair, body, and home, while the flooring utilises Palladiana terrazzo, incorporating off-cuts of travertine as a sustainable and distinctive surface.

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Nestled within South Korea's vibrant “summer capital” in the Haeundae-gu district, Aesop Busan stands as an ode to the often overlooked elements of the urban landscape.

Honouring the space with a balanced approach, Aesop’s in-house design team carefully preserved the raw interior shell while introducing bespoke joinery. A special connection exists between the store and a neighbouring bookshop, celebrated through a translucent resin partition that offers both a dreamlike dual vista and shared access.

Throughout the store, the timeless beauty of Giwa tiling, typically found adorning traditional Korean house roofs, takes on new life through various recycling initiatives. Along the back wall, meticulously cleaned and re-glazed reclaimed tiles become captivating exhibits.

The resulting blue-green glaze evokes the nearby coast and the enchanting colour palette discovered while strolling through the alleys of Busan’s Gamcheon Culture Village. Another testament to resourcefulness, crushed Giwa tile waste finds new purpose as aggregate in a custom-made terrazzo, fashioning expansive counters and a basin of impressive magnitude.

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The imagining of Aesop’s Rue des Francs-Bourgeois store in Le Marais was carried out with longstanding design collaborator Valentin Loellmann. Loellmann’s watercolour sketch was a starting point, whereby the curves of the painting represented the room’s peripheral layout while its flowing pigment evoked the sinuous hand-carved timber that would give the space its otherworldly quality.

Inspired also by Paris’ oldest planned square, the nearby Place des Vosges, Loellmann focused on the way visitors might gather and circulate convivially in their exploration of the brand’s product range. 

During construction, Loellmann employed traditional techniques, hand-crafting solid oak and adorning it with welded brass, ensuring each detail is one-of-a-kind and will develop a unique patina over time. The stone basin was intricately carved from a single block, combining polished and rough elements.

Hand-brushed, thick, chalky plaster on the walls creates a dynamic flow towards the ceiling, mirroring the radiating floor inlaid detail. In this thoughtfully crafted space, customers can engage with knowledgeable consultants to explore formulations tailored to their individual needs, fostering a palpable sense of social comfort.

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Aesop Century City, located in a bustling retail hub, showcases Aesop’s in-house Design Department's homage to the iconic backyard swimming pool, a cultural symbol deeply rooted in Los Angeles. Artists like David Hockney and Edward Ruscha have immortalised the pool's allure through their graphic depictions, shaping the city's identity.

The store features a seamless surface adorned with 3,942 curved ceramic tiles in a custom swimming-pool blue, enveloping the floor, walls, counters, and shelving bays. This unified design creates a floating effect reminiscent of the texture of the city's empty pools, symbolising both the decline in the suburban landscape and the opportunities they offer skateboarders.

The dynamic façade incorporates operable glass panels, introducing an intriguing interplay between the store’s corner location and its surroundings.

This flexibility allows for adaptable arrangements based on the flow of the retail centre, enhancing the store’s connection to its environment. 

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Located in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood in western Los Angeles, the Aesop Palisades Village hosts a biophilic environment inspired by the close-knitted community’s cascading topography of lush landscape and oceanic views.

Together with Toronto-based design studio Odami, Aesop had created a verdant garden at the heart of the store, blurring the inside-outside boundaries by blending natural and built environments.

Grounded by a rejuvenating muted green finish upon microcement walls, ceiling and floors, shoots of foliage lent an earthy atmosphere to the space. Layers of highly-textured materials, such as reclaimed wood and stainless steel created depth, underneath the skylight that allowed ample natural light into the interior garden.

The Fragrance Library hid behind a velvet curtain not unlike camouflage provided in natural leafy surroundings. When drawn away, customers were welcomed into an olfactory secret garden, featuring Aesop’s distinct range of Eau de Parfum. Each ceramic disk in the Library was infused with the unconventional aromas to allow customers an immersive experience in discerning preferences.

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Designed in collaboration with James Russell and Hannah Plumb of London-based creative studio, JamesPlumb, the Aesop store in the erudite county town reflects the surrounding water and land, as well as the academic and archival collections it is in proximity to. 

Located on Trinity Street, one of Cambridge’s historic commercial streets, the shopfront carried a façade of well-worn leather, while on the inside, polished nineteenth century floorboards with centuries-old footfall spanned from the light-filled front space, to the back room of darker, brooding tones.

The highlight of the store were the oversized shelves that reached 4.3 metres in a single length, harvested and woven by Felicity Irons and her Rush Matters team. Made from English freshwater bulrush, it was hand-cut from long punts on the River Great Ouse in Cambridgeshire. The harvests were then air-dried and sun-bleached, before being braided at the nearby workshop. These shelves lined the “pithy”-coloured walls, derived from the inside of bulrush stalks. 

Hemp, another local growth, was featured in the store. From Margent Farm, a private and organic farm 20 miles from Cambridge, the dense and tactile material was pressed with bio resin by composite innovators Cecence, before taking forms of further shelves and cabinetry inlays, reminiscent of the burnished surfaces of old writing desks.

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North of Little Italy, or Nolita, was a significant location for Aesop, as it was where the brand’s first brick-and-mortar store in North America stood. 13 years on, the in-house design team revisited the inaugural store with a renewed presence, paying homage to the neighbourhood’s diverse culture and architecture.

What was most likely a Sicilian pasticceria in the early twentieth century, the brick walls and original ceiling of the shop were preserved–a testament to its past lives. In the centre of the store stood an expansive communal marble basin, recalling the quintessential countertops seen in olden pastry shops, past the display windows decorated with finely crafted confectionery.

With an emphasis on reusing existing materials, Aesop Nolita featured cedar planks reclaimed from water towers that sat atop roofs of the borough’s apartment blocks for over 100 years. The cedar-clad tanks have a lifespan of approximately 30 years before the timber must be replaced. The timbers were given a new lease of life as shelves in the store, kept in their raw state with the patina of decades of water storage.

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