Aesop opens Battersea Power Station store

By

Nigel TAYLOR

Published
Dec 1, 2022

Natura-owned premium beauty retailer Aesop has joined the ever-growing list of arrivals at the new London Battersea Power Station mall on the banks of the Thames.

The Australian brand has taken its place on the ground floor of the station’s historic turbine hall, with the expansive store “making playful allusions to mid-century sci-fi cinema, while taking cues from the landmark building in which it is housed”.

It added: “The contrasts drawn between reverence and irreverence, old and new, industrial, and intimate generate an inviting, curious atmosphere, conducive to exploration”.

Designed in collaboration with Al-Jawad Pike architects, the space “seeks to create a refuge from the surrounding commercial bustle… with a touch of whimsy, it also evokes the history of the Grade II listed building”.

This is achieved by “channelling a bygone era via wall displays that mirror computer switchboards, and a centrally positioned basin that conjures images of a control desk” thus mirroring the carefully-crafted power station’s original artefacts that are a feature of its redesign.

Meanwhile, the store’s perimeter is clad in an angular folding wall formed of perforated acoustic panelling that dampens the background noise. Above, a giant orb-shaped light fixture is suspended over the point of sale and basin, “recalling the stylised sets of black-and-white sci-fi”.

A colour scheme of grey-brown walls, champagne-coloured metal fixtures and a hexagonal oak parquet floor “create the sense of a place belonging to various eras— both real and imagined”.

This continues in the Sensorium, a secluded room in which customers can explore Aesop’s range of fragrances. Here, elements of vintage furniture contrast with the geometric shelves and glass front of the infusion chamber, “where visitors can imbue a piece of clothing with the aroma of their choice”.