Aesop Singapore store marks new design direction

The newly-opened Aesop Ion Orchard features the brand’s newest generation store design concept.

The store, designed by Snohetta, was officially opened a week ago after about a month’s trading. It is the first time Aesop has had a presence in Ion Orchard.

The store features metals and timber, with a bold polished brass exterior. Narrow square timber batons of differing lengths hang down from the ceiling to create an ‘upside down forest’. The timber was chosen in part to mark the presence of a nutmeg plantation on the site many years before Orchard Rd became a retail hub.

The walls are painted in a pink hue, intended to be reminiscent of the colour of mace, a spice harvested from the nutmeg fruit.

“A connection with the nearby Aesop Raffles City is established through the use of brass in functional elements such as the sales counter and sink, and the metal’s lustre is enhanced by overhead lighting,” said the brand.

A lot of the product is displayed on circular shelves mounted on steel frames running from ceiling to floor creating a ‘floating effect’ which fits in with the ceiling forest effect. There are vintage style basins with old style outdoor taps for customers to wash their hands before treatments.

Aesop was founded in Melbourne, Australia, in 1987 and has since grown into an international chain of stores and department store concessions selling skin care products packaged in brown medicine bottles.

Aesop Ion Orchard is the fifth of the brand’s shops to be designed by Snøhetta – earlier stores include Raffles City, Berlin and Norway.

Aesop founder Dennis Paphitis told Dezeen “there’s a direct correlation between interesting, captivating store spaces and customer traffic within a store.”