It took a little while, but at long last, Aesop‘s first standalone store in Amsterdam saw its official inauguration earlier this week. Following openings in Brussels and Antwerp late last year, it’s part of the Australian cosmetics brand’s retail expansion into the Low Countries. Not surprisingly, the company secured a fitting location alongside Utrechtsestraat, a lively thoroughfare lined with independent boutiques and gourmet eateries in the city’s scenic Canal District. The store occupies 107 sqm. (1,152 sq.ft.) spread over different sections on the ground floor and basement of a 17th-century brick building, and similar to all other Aesop retail spaces across the planet, this one too features a design-led interior. Given the fact that the building’s historic interior – mind you, the premises were originally designed to house a candy shop – also became listed at the eleventh hour, Maastricht-based designer Valentin Loellmann had to U-turn his original plans to retain most parts of it, but quite brilliantly improvised with interventions that manage to lend the setting a distinct modern edge. Beautifully handcrafted copper cabinets with dark timber shelving have been inserted in the ornate soft pink-hued joinery that wraps the wall, and tie in with the elongated sales desk and framework of the three stone wash basins that line one side of the façade. The mosaic tile flooring, one of the building’s most striking original traits, has been meticulously restored and sees missing tiles playfully replaced by colour-infused marbled sections. The new Aesop store carries the brand’s full range of skin, body and hair care products, in addition to fragrances, home products and travel kits.
Aesop
Utrechtsestraat 93
1017EB Amsterdam
Telephone: +31 20 7900570
Mon 12pm-6pm
Tue-Wed 10am-6pm
Thu 10am-7pm
Fri -Sat 10am-6pm
Sun 12pm-6pm
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