Aesop draws on Victorian bathroom design for store in historic Leeds arcade

Skincare brand Aesop's design team referenced historic bathroom interiors for its latest UK store in the turn-of-the-century Victoria Leeds County Arcade in Leeds.

The arcade where the store is located features numerous historic details and was informed by Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele. When designing the Aesop Leeds store, the brand's in-house design team looked to its surroundings.

"The arcade is filled with sculptures, bas-reliefs and decorative motifs, but the floor particularly drew our attention," Aesop's director of global retail design Marianne Lardilleux told Dezeen. "Made of mosaic, it features horizontal lines articulated in response to the placement of vertical marble columns."

"The oak flooring of the store echoes this discreet rhythm, allowing the space to integrate seamlessly into the gallery and act as a subtle extension of it," she added.

The overall store design also looked specifically at the bathrooms made during the Victorian era – a period that saw the design of these spaces revolutionised.

"The Victorian bathroom transformed the way hygiene was perceived in England," Lardilleux explained.

"It grew in size, became a living space in its own right, and filled with gadgets and fixtures. It embodied both modernity and a certain art of living," she added.

"The Aesop store borrows from the codes of these private spaces and brings them into dialogue with other construction standards typical of the Industrial Revolution."

To create the right feel for the retail space, Aesop used locally sourced classic and natural materials.

"Wood, stone, and finishes were chosen to evoke the harmony typical of Victorian bathrooms," Lardilleux said.

"The stone was sourced from a quarry in England, and the floor is made of recycled oak."

The design team went the extra mile for the store to be historically accurate, sourcing shelves from the Victorian era on which to display its products.

"They were built by Globe Wernicke and are contemporaneous with the arcade," Lardilleux said.

"Widely popular in cosy English interiors, they were also the first shelves to be designed and assembled in factories spread across several countries."

Aesop's store interiors always feature one single colour, although often in a variety of hues, which changes from store to store. At Aesop Leeds, the design team chose green as it went best with the surrounding arcade.

"The County Arcade is built from terracotta stone and adorned with many orange-toned details, yet the colour green is omnipresent throughout the space," Lardilleux concluded.

"Choosing shades of green allowed the store to subtly embed itself within the gallery's aesthetic universe."

Other recently unveiled Aesop stores include a Madrid branch arranged around cast-iron columns and a Barcelona store that won the best interiors award at Dezeen Awards 2024.

The photography is by Ollie Tomlinson.

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