As one store closes, another blooms—the second incarnation of Aesop Richmond inhabits a site just 500 metres from the original locale. In recognition of the community of staff and customers that made it a vibrant part of their neighbourhood over the past nine years, our in-house team referenced the initial store as the kernel of their design intent, while also acknowledging nearby Kew Gardens and the area’s affinity for the botanic. Almost like a talisman linking time and place, the same antique basin that was sourced from a derelict fish-paste company in the north of England by Ilse Crawford for our first London store in Mayfair, and was then re-used in Richmond from 2015 to 2024, occupies the front window.
The space is segmented into three parts, gradually becoming more private as one delves deeper. The entrance is conceived as a winter garden, a kind of filter between the street and store. Frosted glass panels partially obscure the rest of the salon from view and create a crisp aural seclusion—intimate and yet inviting, lush with greenery. The ample circular basin—reminiscent of a bird bath—sits in the front window, offering visitors the opportunity to refresh themselves before entering the central chamber.
