Aesop Nanxi

Just as one accumulates objects—each with their own cultural legacies and particularities—over a lifetime, Aesop Nanxi in Taipei is an assemblage of furniture pieces that reference different eras of Taiwanese culture and influence. Each item has its own unique identity that subtly reflects traditional craftsmanship and sits silently, confidently alone in the room. At the same time, each object is experienced in relation to the others in the store: they cohere into an ode to Taiwan’s history. The long concrete basins were timber-formed and poured on-site—they hold the graphic marks of their production on their coarse surface. By contrast, locally-grown camphor burl veneer clads some of the shelving units that frame the room. Its varnished, knotted pattern sits in dialogue with the more linear grain of the timber-formed concrete basins. Providing visual relief and spatial direction, a powder-coated metal shelving system extends the full length of the room.