Tour of Aesop Stores Around The World.

The Awesomeness of Aesop will hardly be news for any of you guys. Since their humble beginnings in 1987 in Melbourne, the brand has gone from strength to strength. Year in and year out, product after product, store after store – Aesop continues to smash it out of the ballpark with their commitment to superlative design. But not just the sort of design that spends a certain amount of money on expensive finishes and insists on ostentatious detailing and high-brow design. No sir. Each store is genuinely inventive and beautifully crafted – meticulously considered design remains central to the creation of each new space.

“We value all human endeavours undertaken with intellectual rigour, vision, and a nod to the whimsical.” – Aesop

Today we share with you a little world tour of Aesop’s amazing stores. It’s a whopping post as we go from Sydney’s Balmain and Bondi Beach, all the way to Paris and New York, via Canberra, Melbourne, Hong Kong, Kyoto and LA. Hope you’ve packed your special transcontinental design passports and that you’re ready for the supersonic speed of visual travel. Wooooshhhhh!

See other Aesop Stores on Yellowtrace.

Aesop at The Invisible Dog Art Centre: Brooklyn.

For one of their latest projects, launched on March 13 this year, Aesop has partnered with The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn. The temporary installation, which will operate until the end of July, is designed by architect Frida Escobedo. A glass enclosure containing shifting layers of sand is the stores main focal point, referencing Modernism’s shift away from ornamentation – a key concern of Escobedo’s.

Aesop Balmain: Sydney.

Aesop Balmain was created in collaboration with local designer Henry Wilson. The store reflects the area and specific site, with raw sandstone walls, fireplaces and hidden doorways; tinted concrete terrazzo that reference local mid-century apartment buildings, pale native timbers and a soft palette.

Aesop Saint-Sulpice: Paris.

The most recent Parisian store in Saint-Sulpice, Saint Germain was created in collaboration with Italian architects Dimore Studio, by Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran. The firm’s hallmark approach – ‘evocative of far-off and distant times, counterpoised between softness and rigidity, light and dark’ – is well in keeping with the history and culture of this elegant, unhurried neighbourhood.

Aesop Kyoto: Kyoto.

Aesop Kyoto at 97 Aburaya-Cho Sanjo was created in collaboration with the Simplicity team under the leadership of Shinichiro Ogata. The design draws inspiration from Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows, the aesthetics of 14th-century actor and playwright Zeami Motokiyo, Kyoto’s machiya townhouses, and the vertical alignment of Japanese text. See all images in our gallery post.

Aesop Hollywood Road: Hong Kong.

Aesops’s Hollywood Road store in Hong Kong was designed by Aesop’s Design Team. Surrounded by antique shops, the pared-back design with a neutral palette of pale oak, creates an immersive sense of calm and strong contrast.

Aesop Canberra: Canberra.

Playing on the city’s strong influence of seasons – harsh summers and winters – Aesop’s Canberra store by Kerstin Thompson Architects draws inspiration from a refined gentleman’s suit, utilising felt and black steel to conjure a cool sense of working style.

Aesop Chelsea: New York.

Aesop’s New York store on Ninth Avenue was designed by Aesop founder Dennis Paphitis and The Paris Review. The store’s design reflects the mutual appreciation that has flourished since Dennis Paphitis and Paris Review editor Lorin Stein first crossed paths.

Aesop Abbot Kinney: LA.

Aesop Abbot Kinney Boulevard is Aesop’s first Los Angeles signature store. Familiar with Aesop’s predilections for interiors that respond to neighbourhood anthropology, NAADAAA, who have designed this store, have used a restrained palette of timber and concrete – a simple canvas upon which to introduce Los Angelenos to the brand. See all images in our gallery post.

Aesop Mitte: Berlin.

The Aesop store in Mitte, Berlin, was designed by Weiss-Heiten – Aesop’s first German signature store. Inspired by Gerhard Richter’s abstract, monochromatic canvases, and by the city’s industrial history and everyday charm, the interior assumes a palette of sea-green and a quietly clinical aesthetic. See our previous feature on this Aesop project here.

Aesop Kawaramachi: Kyoto.

The Kawaramachi store by Torafu Architects is Aesop’s second Kyoto store. The store’s design both reflects the history of this neighbourhood, which reaches back to the late 16th century when Kyoto was subject to an extensive reconstruction and the 19th century when it was central to the Meiji Restoration, and aligns itself with contemporary Kyoto. See all images in our gallery post.

Aesop Elements: Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Elements store, at 1 Austin Road West was designed by Aesop’s Design Team. Slotted timber is utilised for shopfront and ceiling, morphing gently into plaster seating along the left side of the entry way.

Aesop Collins Street: Melbourne.

Aesop Collins Street marks the company’s twenty-fifth year of creating superlative products. The store has been designed by Aesop’s creative team and Melbourne-based Kerstin Thompson Architects. It’s a space with old-world gentlemen’s club charm; a rich leather curtain, brass cabinets, blackened steel and copper fixtures, and goat hair carpet together create this masculine elegance.

Aesop Bondi Beach: Sydney.

Aesop Bondi Beach is a relaxed and light-filled space, designed by Zenta Tanaka. The store reflects its setting with aged Geelong wharf timber, fixtures of pale grey and white, and a marble countertop to cool the hands on hot summer days.

[Images courtesy of Aesop.]