Take a look inside the new Aesop store in Marylebone

I love that every Aesop store is different, each one uniquely designed to offer a sensorial store experience that goes beyond just the product. You walk into an Aesop store and you always come out a bit calmer, your shoulders a bit lower, your breath a bit slower.

The latest Aesop store is their new outpost in Marylebone, London. They’ve moved from a small shop designed by Studio KO at the top of the high street to a more prominent and larger double fronted store further down towards Oxford Street.

Conceived by Aesop’s in-house design team, the new store is divided into two spaces. The first space allows you to browse the products on display, but step through to the more intimate rear space, and you come to a quiet, chapel-like room that can be used for individual consultations. The cabinetry frames views through the spaces, inviting you in to discover more.

All images Alixe Lay (@alixelay, alixelay.com)

Wooden joinery, handmade by London-based furniture maker Sebastian Cox, wraps around the L-shaped store. The wooden vitrines were inspired by traditional library architecture, using references from the nearby British Library and the library at Trinity College Dublin. There’s also a nod to Daunt Books up the road and the area’s rich literary history.

Cox only had something like six months to develop and build the joinery. Meeting him at the store opening, he described how it took a bit of trial and error to get the delicate corner bend to work. The panels were carefully steam bent in his London workshop using oak from a sustainably managed farm in Sussex. Sometimes they would crack under the pressure, but they soon found that once bent, the panels were much stronger than they first appeared to be. The lime-washed oak has been finished with linseed oil to bring out a rich warmth to the wood.

All the joinery has been designed so that it can be easily taken out and repurposed in other Aesop stores. One of the members of the Aesop team was telling me how they like to reuse furniture and store elements rather than see them go to waste. Don’t quote me, but I’m pretty sure she said that the till in the Regent Street store used to be in the Paris store!

The colour palette of the store was inspired by Marylebone’s surrounding green squares. The ceiling troughs, featuring frescos by Olivier Cousy, help give the store a more intimate feel. The muted rectangles of olive green and plaster pink pay homage to Paul Klee’s Tower in Orange and Green, which he painted in 1922.

My favourite bit of the store is the consultation space. A curtain can be drawn across the window, creating a semi-private space where you can sit on the built-in sofa or wash your hands at the sink, before trying a perfume or getting a consultation to better understand what might work for your skin.

If you’re in the area, I would definitely pay this new Aesop store a visit. Even just so that you can walk out of the shop feeling that little bit lighter.