Piece No. 6: Aesop
Notes below.
I. Context
Aesop, an Australian lifestyle brand, was founded in 1987 by Dennis Paphitis. A high-end hairstylist, Dennis began to experiment with adding essential oils to the products he used on his clients. His formulations were well-received and he began to build a following by focusing on simple and effective compositions, formalizing his work under the Aesop name in 1989. Eventually, as the brand expanded, so did the product line - extending into home, fragrance and more.
Aesop’s minimalist aesthetic is a reflection of Dennis’ own design philosophy - focused, thoughtful, curated. No one Aesop store is exactly the same. Local architects are brought in once a new location is selected with the mandate to design a space that fits into the neighborhood. Aesop believes deeply in blending into an existing environment, not making itself known.
In this piece, I’ll focus on the choices of the physical stores - aesthetic commonalities shared across retail locations - as opposed to reflecting on the products themselves.
II. Choices
A | Low lighting to amplify ambiance
Aesop’s atmosphere is meant to convey a sense of calm, harmony and relaxation - their products evoke this, as do their stores. Lighting, as I’ve discussed in prior posts, is central to shaping ambiance - Aesop shares this spatial philosophy
Given this belief, many efforts are made to take advantage of any natural light available. Aesop’s Palisades store houses a large skylight that organically illuminates the space. Its Williamsburg shop takes advantage of the building’s industrial architecture - with endless columns and beams that support high ceilings, floor length windows and streaming sun
Interior fixtures are more specifically imagined by the store architects. This often involves custom pieces meant to celebrate local context or history. At one point, the Georgetown store held an installation of 30,000 reclaimed pine sticks intended to reference its past as a tobacco trading post; recessed lighting was also installed to showcase the structure
B | Create shared focal points
Every Aesop store has a custom designed sink anchored in the space. The sinks serve a functional purpose, encouraging customers to try Aesop products at their leisure, and wash off when they’re done exploring and experimenting
However, the sinks also serve as an aesthetic guide. The basins are custom designed to fit the ethos of a given community. Often made with local stones or tiles, the sinks bring an element of unique identity to the store, while reinforcing a shared identity across Aesop stores - Aesop Oslo hosts a basin carved entirely from Norwegian volcanic rock
C | Surroundings as source of inspiration
Architects tasked with building an Aesop store bring a thoughtful and creative mind to constructing the space - one that solves for conveying the spirit of the city
For example, Australian Aesop locations pull on oceanic elements typical of the continent - Aesop James Street in Brisbane draws inspiration from the curve and light inside a wave
In Sao Paolo, the design team focused on creating ease in the transition between the store and its surroundings. They installed limited divisions between the shop and the outdoors and prioritized uninterrupted views of the interior, made possible with the use of large glass panes
III. Conclusions
It’s not common to encounter such a considered brand experience - from product, to packaging to physical space, Aesop is notably consistent, curated and high quality. The only other company that’s achieved a similar degree of coherent craft is Apple - our gold standard, perhaps, of thoughtfully designed product experiences in the tech world
The fact that Aesop has been able to hold onto this as they’ve grown worldwide is impressive. The bespoke nature of an Aesop store seems at odds with Silicon Valley’s obsession with ‘scalability’ - but perhaps it’s this very ethos that enables its global resonance
I am curious what it could mean to bring the feel Aesop creates in a physical space to the digital world. Are there certain UI elements that can provoke a sense of grounding in a product? Maybe a thoughtful loading state or elegant micro-interaction can offer the digital equivalent of rinsing your hands or breathing in scents: not just a function, but a ritual - a moment of reset