When These Walls Talk, They Whisper

PHOTOS: SEAN DAVIDSON; COURTESY OF AESOP

FOR MORE THAN a decade, Aesop (Melbourne) has inhabited various locations around New York in luxe yet minimal interiors. An Upper West Side site sells products on pine plywood shelving inspired by the hangers of the space’s past life as Anel French Cleaners, a family run business (Aesop also retained the iconic store signage and façade). Its NoMad outpost with exposed cast-iron columns is an 1800s-era horse stable that now sports a wide-open, inviting storefront. A kiosk at Grand Central Terminal features 2800 bound and stacked New York Times newspapers to form merchandise risers in reverence to once-prevalent New York City newsstands. Its online archive of repurpose-with-respect projects – aptly named “Whispers in the Walls” – documents a number of Aesop’s efforts to honor its global stores’ former history and surroundings.

Aesop’s latest New York store features the building’s existing concrete and steel architecture.

Most recently, Aesop worked to echo the industrial character and architecture of its latest New York store. For the 1000-square-foot space on Third Avenue, the Aesop design team, led by Cyril Marsollier, Aesop Americas Head of Store Planning, collaborated with New York-based Alexander Zilberman Architecture (AZA). Previously, Aesop commissioned AZA (in conjunction with architect Jakob Sprenger) to execute its Wall Street flagship in the lobby of a 1920s art deco skyscraper – formerly housing the Munson Steamship Line offices – leaving intact expansive marble walls, crown moldings and an eye-catching vintage brass chandelier.

Not only does Aesop reuse architectural elements, but its stores are designed to respond to their immediate surroundings. “Integrating existing elements and styles into each individual venue’s design is a brand pillar for Aesop,” says Alexander Zilberman, Principal, AZA.

Inspired by industrial architecture, the store showcases a museum-like minimalism in its fixtures and finishings.

Existing concrete, steel and glass elements combined with newly designed and installed lacquered wood floor-to-ceiling fixtures here echo surrounding buildings – down to the neat rows of product. The former pizza shop takes on a museum-like aesthetic with welcoming features including an upholstered bench offering respite as well as a central stone basin that “allows customers to wash away the grime of the metropolis.” Visitors, says Zilberman, “encounter a vibe that is a marriage of the iconic Aesop brand with Manhattan’s unmistakable, industrial-influenced architecture.”

“The concrete shell became a simple backdrop to more intricate millwork pieces whose profiles nod to the broader context,” says Marsollier, referring to New York’s 1916 Zoning Resolution – adopted to stop building massing from preventing light and air from reaching street level, “allowing light deep into the space, reinforces the domestic qualities of the space,” Marsollier says, “with a focus on warmth and performance.”