Aesop Gansevoort Street

Variations on a ceiling

To create our first store in New York City’s Meatpacking District, our in-house designers delved into the area’s history as an effervescent urban canvas for avant-garde artists. The interior architecture is pared back and monochromatic, so as not to divert attention from the ceiling, which serves as an overhead gallery for ephemeral exhibitions of contemporary art. The space is conceived as a gathering place for the local community, where art is celebrated in all forms of expression for its ability to delight and surprise.

Divided into two rooms, the store was designed with modularity and flexibility in mind. Not only does the plywood joinery perform the usual task of housing our amber jars and bottles, but it also supports the store’s transformation into a studio, workshop, and event space for vernissages, banquets, and other celebratory occasions.

The first works to grace the vaulted gallery of both rooms are by Romain Laprade, a French photographer whose captivating, enigmatic style exudes warmth and serenity. His images reflect a fascination with urban dreamscapes of the United States and the way mundane moments, caught on camera while travelling, can become sublime. Seemingly inconsequential details and minimalist compositions, accentuated by just the right light, reveal a poetic view of the world around him. Wheat-pasted onto the ceiling using a technique borrowed from street art, the composition of photographs is akin to a mental map of the US seen through Laprade’s lens.

At the cantilevered central basin in the first room, customers can explore our full range of products for the skin, hair, body and home. In the depths of the second room, an unassuming cabinet offers a singular experience—a hidden basin for one-on-one consultations. A pair of velvet banquettes invites visitors to take the load off their feet and admire the spectacle above.