The Aesop Approach to Culture

Aesop has become known as much for its skincare formulations as for its support of cultural and creative endeavours the world over. In Asia, the brand continues to both catalyse and partake in key cultural moments

Aesop has long held a love for language, culture and design. Its first store, a small salon in the Melbourne suburb of Armadale was often a canvas for cross-disciplinary collaborations, bringing artists, craftspeople and customers together through a shared affinity for creativity and curiosity. More than three decades on, Aesop remains engaged in art events and cultural moments around the world with ambitious yet considered activations. By collaborating with local creatives and makers, the brand has held space for emerging voices to tell their stories, enriching our minds and enlarging our worlds in the process. We look back at some of the brand’s memorable collaborations from 2024.

Aesop Home
China

Aesop Home was a pop-up space nestled in a historic Qing Dynasty estate, offering guests a pleasing respite from Beijing’s clamour. Designed as an extension of the newly opened Aesop Beijing House 19, the brand’s first signature store in the capital, the mansion’s rooms and courtyards were thoughtfully designed for contemplation and connection, with resting, dining and social areas outfitted with abstract furniture crafted from amber glass bricks, a nod to the traditional grey brickwork of Beijing but reimagined using Aesop’s signature amber bottles.

Mid-autumn Harvest Festival
South Korea

Each year, Aesop celebrates Chuseok, the Korean autumn harvest festival. A time for family, gratitude and reflection, the holiday resonates with Aesop’s own reverence for ceremony, community and ritual. In addition to offering bojagi wrapping, the traditional cloth gift-wrapping technique, the brand collaborates with local craftspeople to create unique installations that celebrate this time of year. In 2024 Aesop unveiled an art installation by self-taught woodturner Minwook Kim. Vessels of varying silhouettes, textures and imperfections were composed in a poetic mise en scène symbolising the coming together of individuals during this festive season.

Hong Kong Arts Month
Hong Kong

For Arts Month in March, Aesop debuted Local artist Jaffa Lam’s Dusk to Dawn in its Gough Street store in Central. Lam, who is known for her vast site-specific works made from recycled umbrella fabric, collaborated with former garment workers (now affiliated with the Hong Kong Women’s Workers Association) to create a kaleidoscopic cerulean canopy that symbolises the enduring spirit of the city’s unsung labour force. Aesop’s involvement in Arts Month also included the production of the Aesop Art Guide, a pocket-sized directory of noteworthy art galleries and communities around the city and its outlying areas.

Art Busan
South Korea

At a time when visitors flocked to Busan to attend one of South Korea’s leading art fairs, Aesop partnered with its Busan neighbour Johyun Gallery to host an enthralling exhibition by South Korean artist Jo Jong Sung. A series of blue paintings were installed in the store, an abstract depiction of the region’s islands that was at once familiar and peculiar. Alongside the installation, Aesop launched an Aesop Guide to Busan, spotlighting locations that prioritise slow living, community gathering and artistic creation.

Singapore Night Festival
Singapore

A mystical forest of bamboo-like structures was constructed in the National Design Centre during this year’s Singapore Night Festival, the city’s largest after-dark arts, music and entertainment event. Inspired by whimsy and folklore, the Scents of Being installation took visitors on a multisensory journey with scents from Aesop’s Eaux de Parfum range, including the newly released Virēre. By evoking distinct moods and memories, the experience demonstrated how memorable scents are always imbued with feeling. 

Scents of Being Shibuya
Japan

The Scents of Being philosophy took a new contour within Aesop’s Shibuya store in Tokyo. The brand’s instantly recognisable hand-cast plastered noses — which first appeared in the 2014 Nasotheque campaign — dotted the shopfront, encouraging guests to be led through the store by their noses as they discovered the brand’s ten fragrances, the only products in the entire store.