The Care of Assembly: Sincerely Sourced
von Anoe Melliou
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Rooted in the industrial logic of reuse and adaptation, ready-made design draws its essence from the mechanics of construction and the clarity of engineered systems, conveying a timeless precision. As a design approach, it consciously interrogates the processes of selection, assembly, and repetition. By advancing inherent structural intelligence and efficiency, it transforms composition into a responsive environment that directly engages with the realities of manufacturing and use, while embedding sustainability as a core principle within its methodology.
An aesthetic grounded in precision, economy, and intention defines the recent retail design of Aesop Bellevue Square in Seattle, shaped by influences from the aerospace industry. The space subtly references machinery and internalizes the intriguing discipline behind engineered systems. There’s an underlying logic to its spatial rhythm, structured through modular repetition and technical exploration.
Lighting feels calibrated and diffused, and materials such as brushed aluminum, coiled steel wire, and subtly reflective composites recall the skins of aircraft, almost as if paying homage to shared design priorities: performance, durability, and lightness. The store and the brand’s ethos resemble a flight for the senses. Every edge, surface, and junction is rendered with clarity, creating a calm, controlled atmosphere that elevates the ritual of skincare into something elemental.
The space reveals a grace found in order, in repetition, in components brought together with care. Here, the logic of systems does not negate feeling or intimacy; it gives them a structure that creates a shell, a sheltered world. In this setting, beauty emerges from alignment. Like the logic of prefabrication it draws upon, the store shows how utility, when finely tuned, becomes its own quiet form of luxury.
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Images: Aesop Bellevue Square, designed by the brand’s in-house architects.
