Aesop Kurfürstendamm

The pensive glow of yearning

To create Aesop’s space on Berlin’s Kurfürstendamm, one of fluid forms and sepia tones, the company’s in-house design team took inspiration from Bauhaus architecture—and from a certain melancholic, mystical film partly set on that very street. The atmosphere, in consequence, is muted and moody.

While the store’s shell was left in its raw and authentic state, with paint peeling from the bricks, the interior was transformed by a structural insertion of dramatic proportions. Wax panels from a onetime Facial Appointment suite on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris were reused to create an expansive rotunda, its translucent curves glowing with warm light. In plan, the cylindrical form delineates the shopfloor from the back-of-house, while accommodating those visitors who would like to take time to sit and muse—perchance, to yearn and let their mind wander. In a nod to monochrome cinematography, identical shelving modules in a desaturated grey-beige merge with the walls. Perching atop in regimented rows, Aesop’s functional bottles and labels stand out in their graphic black-and-alabaster regularity. The limited colour palette induces a feeling of timelessness, allowing visitors to focus on the tactile qualities of the formulations—or be transported on the wings of Aesop’s unconventional fragrances.

In this evocative setting, trained consultants can recommend the products best suited to each customer’s individual needs.