Hasta La Ideas

Layers of sand that resemble a mountainous landscape will gradually move and change shape for the duration of this installation by Mexican architect Frida Escobedo for skincare brand Aesop‘s New York pop-up shop.

The installation at The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn was created by Escobedo to reflect its temporal setting and the idea of natural ornamentation espoused by Modernist architectural theorist Adolf Loos.

“Inspired by this principle, this installation for Aesop reflects the passing of time in the way of an inverse sedimentation,” explained Escobedo in a statement displayed alongside the work.

A simple wooden structure, which also references the minimal aesthetic favoured by Modernist architects, supports and frames the glass panels containing black and white sand. The sand has been poured into gaps between the glass sheets, creating striated patterns that look like the peaks and valleys of a mountain range.

The sand will gradually sift through and out the bottom of the glass panel, causing the patterns to evolve over the five month period of the pop-up shop’s residency.

“Installed in springtime in New York, it also recalls melting snow, Les Eaux de Mars, a change of season, optimism and expectation,” Escobedo explained.

Aesops’s products surround the space containing the artwork, which also features a freestanding vintage sink that echoes the raw, industrial backdrop of the gallery space.

Aesop is renowned for its unique shops created by leading architects and designers, including one in Kyoto with light fitting taken from squid fishing boats and another in New York with a ceiling covered in copies of The Paris Review.

Photography is by Rafael Gamo.

Here’s some more information from Aesop:

Aesop pop-up at The Invisible Dog

Aesop is honoured to partner with The Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn to present a temporary installation designed by architect Frida Escobedo. Launched on March 13, the innovative retail space will operate until the end of July.

While its main business is skin, hair and body care, Aesop has long nurtured a passionate interest in all forms of creative expression, and is well known for collaborations with individual practitioners and organizations alike. The endeavor sees the brand join with a New York exemplar of community-focused cultural engagement and one of the foremost proponents of Latin American Modernism.

The installation’s centerpiece is a timber-framed glass enclosure containing meticulously segmented layers of sand that will shift over the next five months. Escobedo speaks of this feature having dual interpretations. In a materiality and form, it reference Modernism’s shift away from ornamentation. And in keeping with one of Escoebdo’s central concerns, it reflects temporality of its setting. The design is also influenced by Aesop’s distinctive aesthetic, which the architect sees as aligned with the Japanese principle of shibusa or ‘sophisticated austerity’.

Aesop selected the location because of its deep ties with the neighborhood and by the creative space and support network it provides for artists. The Invisible Dog manages to combine residency studios for artists, venues for exhibits and performances, and community engagement. Established in 2009 and nestled between Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Boreum Hill, this interdisciplinary space is an exemplar of self-sustained, community-focused cultural engagement; and an acclaimed hub for experimentation and collaboration among artists.

Aesop was founded in Melbourne in 1987 and today offers its superlative formulations in signature stores and counters around the world and online. As the company evolves, meticulously considered design remains paramount to the creative of each space.

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Frida Escobedo’s installation for Aesop appeared first on Dezeen.

An intricate three-dimensional lattice of narrow timber slats forms a cloud-like mass around the exterior of this pineapple cake shop in Tokyo by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma (+ slideshow).

Kengo Kuma and Associates was asked by cake brand SunnyHills to come up with a shop design that mirrors the careful preparation of the company’s trademark pineapple cakes, so the architects developed a volume modelled on a well-crafted bamboo basket.

Over 5000 metres of wooden strips were used to construct the precise 3D grid that wraps around around the outer walls and ceiling of the three-storey building. Some pieces were cut shorter than others, revealing multiple layers and reducing the overall linearity.

“Our aim was to create a forest in the busy city centre,” said Kengo Kuma. “We studied how lighting states would change in a day in the woods, and came up with a shape like a basket.”

The narrow slats are arranged at angles of 30 and 60 degrees, creating hundreds of diamond-shaped hollows, and were assembled by local Japanese craftsman.

“I consider that wood joints without glues or nails are the essence of Japanese architecture,” added Kuma. “What is characteristic about SunnyHills is the angle of the lattice; unlike the conventional 90 degrees, we tried 30 degrees and 60 degrees to combine the pieces.

“By designing with these varied angles, we were able to achieve a shape and a frame that evokes a forest,” he added.

An opening at one corner leads visitor into the shop, which occupies the two lower floors of the building. An assortment of differently sized staircase treads form a route between the two floors and are flanked by sprouting foliage.

Cork tiles provide flooring on the first floor, where the architects have also added a kitchen. The cork surface continues up to the level above, which houses a meeting room and staff office.

Photography is by Daici Ano.

Here’s a project description from Kengo Kuma and Associates:

SunnyHills at Minami-Aoyama

This shop, specialised in selling pineapple cake (popular sweet in Taiwan), is in the shape of a bamboo basket. It is built on a joint system called “Jiigoku-Gumi”, traditional method used in Japanese wooden architecture (often observed in Shoji: vertical and cross pieces in the same width are entwined in each other to form a muntin grid). Normally the two pieces intersect in two dimensions, but here they are combined in 30 degrees in 3 dimensions (or in cubic), which came into a structure like a cloud. With this idea, the section size of each wood piece was reduced to as thin as 60mm×60mm.

As the building is located in middle of the residential area in Aoyama, we wanted to give some soft and subtle atmosphere to it, which is completely different from a concrete box. We expect that the street and the architecture could be in good chemistry.

Design architecture: Kengo Kuma & Associates
Structure: Jun Sato Structural Engineering
Facilities: Kankyo Engineering
Construction: Satohide Corporation
Location: Minami Aoyama 3-10-20 Minato-ku Tokyo Japan
Site Area: 175.69 sqm
Building Area: 102.36 sqm
Total Floor Area: 293.00 sqm
No. of Floors: BF1, 1F, 2F, RF
Structure: reinforced concrete, partially timber
Primary use: Store (retail)
Client: SunnyHills Japan

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encased within intricate timber lattice appeared first on Dezeen.

Large glowing letters spell out the Portuguese  Spanish word for tea at the front of this tea house in Brazil by architects Estudio 30 51, the third cafe we’ve featured in the last seven days (+ slideshow).

Estudio 30 51 designed El Té for the ground floor of a shopping centre in Porto Alegre and installed the two huge wooden letters across the shopfront so that they frame the cafe’s entrance and serving counter.

“The fronts of the letters are backlit so at night time they work like urban lanterns illuminating the front of the store,” architect Gustavo Sbardelotto told Dezeen.

The colourful packaging of the teas provided the starting point for the shop’s interior design and create a rainbow effect along the edge of the glass-topped serving counter.

A range of 30 different teas are displayed across the sections and customers are invited to to sample and smell different types.

The rest of the space is lined with wooden panels to allow these colours to stand out. This includes the base of the counter, walls, doors and shelving.

White tables and simple wooden chairs fill the space, sitting over a floor of square paving stones.

More chairs and tables are located upstairs, or customers can choose to sit on outdoor furniture in front of the entrance.

Photography is by Marcelo Donadussi.

Here’s a project description from Estudio 30 51:

Tea house

Located in one of the most important commercial galleries in the city of Porto Alegre, El té – Casa de chás (tea house) focuses on the sale of teas and everything that involves the product.

The project concept was born from the immersion in the world of teas. All its colours, textures and aromas were the starting point for creating this environment. Wood was elected as the primary materiality of the project , acting as a neutral base where the colourful herbs are the highlight.

Due to the shop window be visually obstructed by the wall of the shop next door and be quite far from the sidewalk, the store needed a visual attraction that arouse the interest of those who passed through there. For that reason it was sought a synergy between the element of visual communication and architecture.

From the graphical representation of the words “El TE” chosen as store name, and that literally means “The Tea”, it was developed a pictogram identification of the tea house that is both visual communication and the main piece of furniture – this goes beyond the scale of a usual sign composing the facade and interior design of the shop.

On the face of “TÉ”, facing the street it was implemented a backlight that functions as an urban lantern, an exciting surprise to those who pass by the store by night. The depth of the letter “E” on the facade extends beyond the outer limit, penetrating inside the store and acts as the main design element. This element home the showcase of teas, infusions preparation desk and cashier.

The samples of 30 variations of teas are arranged in small drawers so that clients can smell the product before they decide which one they want to buy. The 30 variations of the infusions are indicated by different colours beneath each small drawer, which facilitates the identification of each tea by customers and creates a colourful scheme.

Architects: Gustavo Sbardelotto (estudio 30 51) e Mariana Bogarin
Location: Porto Alegre – Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil
Project Year: 2012
Area: 63,00 sqm

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El Té tea house by Estudio 30 51 appeared first on Dezeen.

Australian skincare company Aesop has opened a new signature store in Hong Kong that features shelving made from blackened steel, plus sinks made of oak and copper.

Designed by Aesop‘s in-house design team, the store’s pared-back theme is intended to contrast with the busy antiques shops that it sits alongside on Hollywood Road in the city’s central district.

The designers said they used the neutral colour of pale oak to create “an immersive sense of calm,” while raw materials such as steel, oak and oxidised copper attempt to create an industrial aesthetic.

Shelves made from oak beams set into blackened steel frames line one wall to display the brand’s distinctive brown glass bottles. On the opposite wall, brass garden taps are mounted over large copper sinks.

A treatment room where customers can consult Aesop’s staff for advice about the products is concealed behind a screen at the back of the store, which contains a wooden sink and drawers behind a metal mesh cupboard door.

Aesop ensures that no two store are alike. Founder Dennis Paphitis told Dezeen that he was “horrified at the thought of a soulless chain” and that he believes there is “a direct correlation between interesting, captivating store spaces and customer traffic within a store”.

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pale oak, copper and blackened steel appeared first on Dezeen.

Sheets of translucent black material separate areas of this Aesop skincare store in Kyoto by Japanese studio Simplicity (+ slideshow).

Simplicity took different elements from Japanese artistic principles through the ages and applied them to the Aesop shop interior.

“The design draws inspiration from Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows, the aesthetics of fourteenth-century actor and playwright Zeami Motokiyo, Kyoto’s machiya townhouses and the vertical alignment of Japanese text,” said the designers.

Bottles of the skin and haircare products are hung in columns against the sheer fabric to reference vertical Japanese calligraphy.

An antique water pump installed in an alcove can be spotted through the large glazed section of wall facing the street.

On entering the store, shoppers walk up a ramp and past a shelf displaying a selection of Aesop products before emerging into the main space behind the veils.

Past the blinds, the floor changes from dark polished concrete to a clean white surface.

Copper plumbing runs down from the ceiling and branches into taps, which are positioned over sinks set into white islands.

Lamps hang off the pipes like climbing plants and the cashier’s desk is also clad in copper. More products are on show in rounded niches set into the stark white walls.

Three of the brand’s signature bottles are also presented outside the store, attached to a horizontal grey element that contrast with the white facade.

When we spoke to Aesop’s founder Dennis Paphitis, he explained why no two of the brand’s stores have the same design. Another Aesop store that recently opened in Kyoto features lighting previously used on squid fishing boats.

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in Kyoto by Simplicity appeared first on Dezeen.