Spiritual retail: Aesop opens monastery-inspired store

Designed by Norwegian architects Snøhetta, the store’s ceiling features 10 intersecting domes, finished in a matte gypsum plaster, creating a form reminiscent of Orthodox churches and monasteries. The centrepiece is a great slab of stone that looks like a sacrificial altar, providing a wash basin for customers.

The sparse, monochrome space engenders a reverence as customers choose from products that line the whitewashed brick walls that show off the building’s original 19th-century architecture, uncovered in what the designers have called ‘a process of archaeology’.

This contemporary take on religious iconography and architecture is explored in our Ascetic Contemplation design direction. Read our article on Snøhetta's design for YME's concept store for more retail interior inspiration.