The Aesop Milan store opens

aesop milan store opens with curved ceiling

(Image credit: Aesop)

The newest Aesop Milan store has launched on Piazza Cordusio, marking the third location in the city for the beauty brand, founded in Melbourne in 1987 by Dennis Paphitis. The space – which made its first public preview appearance during Salone del Mobile 2024 with a dedicated installation by architect Nicolas Schuybroek, crafted from a grid of Aesop Body Cleansing Slabs – has now thrown open its doors to the public.

Aesop Milan store: a home for minimalism and calm

The new space features all the Aesop hallmarks – beyond the exquisite product on show, it is designed by the brand's in-house team of architects with calm lines and clean surfaces, but with a twist. While the minimalist architecture elements – such as pared-down volumes that include bespoke pieces of furniture and built-in features, from the main counter to shelving and benches – prevail, they are awarded a subtly unexpected identity through curved lines and a gentle light-green colour theme throughout.

aesop milan store interior showing minimalist table with product

Each of the Aesop stores has its own personality (the brand's other outposts in the city include a venue in Brera designed by Vincenzo de Cotiis and in Corso Magenta by Dimore Studio, while recent openings also include Aesop Rome by Jakob Sprenger), and here metal fittings meet tiles and softer surfaces where needed. The Piazza Cordusio store's character borrows from the nearby metro line – hints of its colours and materials subtly appear across the store.

aesop milan store interior shelves with product

Aesop's director of global retail design Marianne Lardilleux explained that the Cordusio location is in a spot set to receive more footfall from tourists due to its proximity to the metro station and key Milan landmarks. The store, she explained, is set to create connections with the city's social life but at the same time, its entrance marks a 'threshold' where people can enter a haven of nurturing and serenity, away from the bustle.

aesop milan store facade during milan design week

The Aesop team is also hoping to use the store for activations in the future – the 'Queer Library' which started in 2023 is just one of the programmes they have implemented over the years, alongside the aforementioned Salone installations. 'We like to give another purpose to our stores,' says Lardilleux.

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).