Held at its soon-to-open newest store in Milan, cosmetics brand Aesop adds to this year’s Salone del Mobile event with a sensorial installation of its own. Created by Belgian architect Nicolas Schuybroek, the installation is entitled Form Follows Formulation, and surprisingly, comprises regimented rows of Aesop product, following a formulation-first logic that is central to the brand’s philosophy. The installation is inspired by the Arte Povera movement from the late 1960s and 1970s which has not only inspired Schuybroek creative output for many years, but also shaped the basis of this project for Aesop, which is known for its minimalist packaging. Restricting materiality to something as simple as a soap bar resonates with the principles of the movement, while also echoing Superstudio’s iconic monochromatic grid structures from the 1970s. Here, Schuybroek explores modes of unconventional construction with an everyday material—in this case a functional household item used en masse in a grid formation. Within the assembly, small rectangular cavities are created by removing soap bars, generating portals through which to enter, via film, the sensorial world of Aesop‘s products. The soap slabs are supported by a slender timber structure that can be readily disassembled and reused in different locations after the fair has ended (open through Apr 21).
Aesop
Piazza Cordusio 2, Unit 4 (Duomo)
20123 Milano
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
