Aesop SM Aura

The store is a stage of sorts, where visitors from the bustling mall can slow down and engage in reveries of architecture and skin care. Details from the historic theatre’s original interiors are reimagined as terraced plaster walls where verdant hues wash over every surface. Within these stepped frames, a grid of wood wool tiles resembles Capiz shell installations. The responsibly sourced timber fibres absorb sound and enhance air quality, ensuring serene repose for customers and consultants. Upon the store’s decommissioning, the tiles will be composted and return their richness to the soil. In their current placement, they glow with the nurturing radiance of the overhead lantern, recalling the Capiz lamps that stand at the Metropolitan Theatre’s entrance.

A choreography of hygiene and hydration plays out via raw steel, exposed piping, drainage grills, and familiar garden taps that bring a domestic quality to the space. The generous central trough becomes a communal podium for encounters with Aesop’s skin, hair and body care formulations, while an individual basin at the rear of the store accommodates more intimate consultations. At the Fragrance Library, curious noses are invited to participate in an olfactory programme of unconventional aromas. Their owners can then infuse an item of clothing with their preferred Eau de Parfum—a memento of the fragrant recital to bring along into the outside world.