From Madrid to Makati, a modest amber glass bottle with a vanilla-toned label, filled with a woody, aromatic elixir, has become an emblem of good taste. At the heart of Australian skincare company Aesop is an exacting design ethos that gives form to something that is, in its essence, ethereal.
When Marianne Lardilleux, director of global retail design, joined the company in 2016 as store design manager for the Americas, she had spent six years working for luxury behemoth LVMH. Aesop helped reactivate her focus on a more sustainable, consciousoffer a haven of peace in a chaotic world. When the first Aesop signature store opened in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda in 2003, much had been learned from Emeis, the hair salon opened by Aesop’s founder Dennis Paphitis in Armadale, Victoria, in 1987. There, in a space with matte alabaster walls bathed in natural light, Paphitis blended essential oils into hair products and set about establishing other subtle aesthetic codes to ensure an intimate, sensual ambience. Aesop’s 200-plus standalone stores and 80 counters owe their shape to these principles.
