Aesop have had a busy few months, opening a number of new global, architecturally-inspired stores.

 

Starting with a third New York store nestled at 341 Bleecker Street in the West Village, the store’s design is the result of the company’s latest collaboration with talented architect Rodney Eggleston of Melbourne’s March Studio. Eggleston’s signature resides in the unexpected ways in which he appropriates space and employs familiar, honest materials in unconventional contexts. In this setting, he has utilised leather, brass and lime-washed plywood, all of which are intended to mellow with time in the same spirit that skin does.

 

The company’s first Malaysian signature store, which opened in Kuala Lumpur’s Pavilion shopping precinct on 9 August 2012, significantly enhances the presence Aesop has held at several department stores in Kuala Lumpur and Penang for the last fifteen years. A collaboration with architects Russell & George, the design embodies Aesop’s predilection for clean, linear arrangements and natural materials. The structure uses finely proportioned wooden slats for walls, folding doors, and ceiling; this simple, elegant frame allows for abundant light and evokes a sense of enclosure, protection and tranquillity. Other interior elements include black basalt flooring, and copper sink and pipes.

 

With six signature stores now operating across London, Aesop’s most recent venture in the English capital is a permanent new space at Selfridges. This simple, calming niche is the result of a collaboration with architecture studio cheungvogl, inspired by the age-old concept of trading as an opportunity for the exchange of ideas as well as goods and currency.

 

Each of the new stores has given considerable thought to structure and space, and offer an enjoyable and easy customer experience in a beautifully designed environment.

 

Jack Smylie