Aesop Paddington by Clare Cousins Architects

Clare Cousins Architects Aesop Paddington Retail Interiors Photo Anson Smart | Yellowtrace

Aesop’s relocated Paddington store, designed by the brand’s long term collaborator Clare Cousins Architects (CCA), celebrates Sydney’s aquatic passion. Located just around the corner from bustling Oxford Street and tucked into a quiet corner of Glenmore Road, the store’s terraced entrance with verdant planting offers a rest spot to languid passersby.

“Whether a casual poolside gathering or a languid dip in the ocean, Australians are an enthusiastically amphibian people,” explains the CCA design team.

The elegant scheme tells the story of Sydney’s intimate relationship with the water through observant detail. Iconic local landmark significant to Sydney’s avid bathing culture – think Bondi Icebergs, the Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Pool, the city’s many picturesque sea baths, as well as the scenic Bondi to Bronte trail – are longingly referenced within the new signature store.

“Each material is selected to express a particular feeling of place,” explain the architects. “The interior is skimmed in a grey-green pebble mix, a robust granular surface evocative of the rocky shorelines.”

The grey-green pebbles line the interior walls and ceiling as if the store were an upside-down pool, making for a deeply immersive experience. Seats emerge as contoured pool-steps; coved corners and recessed niches evoke shoreline grottos; luscious greenery spouts from the depths.

Soft, coved corners and recessed niches emphasise the design’s organic quality. Steel shelves in Eucalypt green echo the muted hues of the interior shell, and introduce a recognisably Australian colour palette.

Equally grounding and dividing the space is a central island, housing an extruded vessel which spans its length. The sand-coloured travertine slab ends stimulate the rugged contours and irregular strata of the seaside cliffs.

10 points from us all round.