Aesop Neubaugasse

Our new Vienna store, designed in collaboration with Jakob Sprenger, takes inspiration from the Austrian capital’s history—via the works of prominent thinkers who called it home in the early 20th century, and documents found in the city’s archives. Architectural research revealed that the building’s original 1870s exterior—including a large arch—had been covered many times over. The store’s new façade reimagines this curved form in a modern context, a nod to its storied past. The entrance is slightly recessed from the street, and its heightened semicircular window is fitted with fluted panes, allowing natural light to fill the first of three connected rooms. The trio of enclaves evokes thoughts, fantasies and dreams, respectively; to move through them is to go on an imaginative journey. The initial space—the conscious mind—is one of quiet grandeur, courtesy of a high ceiling from which hangs an original Carlo Scarpa chandelier. An enveloping sense of calm contrasts with the bustling street, and intensifies throughout the ensuing spaces. Next is an intriguing rotunda, whose wall conceals a rotating Fragrance Library: the small aromatic alcove reinforces notions of reverie, exploration and discovery. In the third, narrow space, a dream-like quality emerges from mirrored surfaces and darker finishings; the overall effect is one of warmth, and escapism.