Skincare model Aesop has collaborated with designer Samuso Hyojadong to create a retailer in Seochon, Seoul, that options an open facade and an outsized stone plinth.
Positioned in one of many oldest neighbourhoods of Seoul’s Jongno-gu district, the Seochon outlet was created to “match harmoniously inside its native context”, in response to Aesop’s design crew.
When designing the shop, Aesop and Hyojadong took cues from the structure of jeongjas – conventional Korean pavilions with no partitions, which function areas for resting and taking within the surrounding views.
The road-facing facade was created with mesh steel screens that may open out fully to create a storefront with no partitions. As soon as closed, the woven steel backing creates translucent home windows by way of which passersby observe the softly lit silhouettes of uniform rows of bottles.
“Samuso prolonged the floorplate outwards to create a threshold that conveys a beneficiant sense of hospitality,” the Aesop design crew advised Dezeen.
“One [jeongja] specifically that impressed us was the Soswaewon within the Damyang area, which was constructed within the sixteenth century and is surrounded by a verdant backyard.”
For the shop’s materials palette, the designers referenced the timber and stone which might be sometimes used to construct conventional Korean homes often known as hanoks.
A big, rough-edged stone plinth displaying clusters of merchandise was positioned on the entrance whereas varied picket accents have been created with timber reclaimed from salvage yards and an deserted home.
The shop was additionally constructed on a raised stone platform, which nods to the standard structure.
Hanji paper created from mulberry tree bark sourced from South Korea’s Gyeongnam province options on the shop’s partitions, which body central geometric cabinetry and glossy faucets product of regionally produced aged copper.
The designers have been restrained of their use of sanding, sealants and coatings when treating the supplies, opting to embrace their “pure imperfections”.
“Sensitivity to texture on this retailer is superlative,” mirrored the design crew. “Samuso wished every materials to precise itself immediately, with out an excessive amount of human intervention,” it continued, referencing the roughness of the stone and the reclaimed timber’s undulating texture.
Rosewood was used to create the shop’s signature perfume armoire, which is hidden from view till opened out and was conceived as a standard Korean jewelry field, in response to the design crew.
“All through the shop, we have been compelled by a want to dissolve the boundaries between inside and out of doors, between the naturally occurring and the human-made,” concluded the designers.
Identified for shops that pay homage to their diverse places, Aesop has an outlet in Cambridge outlined by handwoven bulrush cabinets that nod to the close by River Cam and a Sydney retailer furnished with home gadgets to evoke Sixties Australian houses.
The pictures is courtesy of Aesop.