Aesop Hibiya Chanter

An expression of the mechanics of change

Our tenth Tokyo signature store is situated within the Hibiya Chanter centre. Created in partnership with Tokyo-based Shingo Masuda + Katsuhisa Otsubo Architects, its design makes inventive use of space to honour both the suburb’s commercial tradition and its verdant outdoor precincts.

The interior explores large-scale operable devices: the central volume slides open to reveal a capacious sink; and an outsized door functions as a partition to conceal a storeroom. In this regard, the store effects an interpretation of traditional vendors—in which shop fixtures are used to occupy the street when open and pack away entirely at night.

Pebble-wash flooring crafted subtly blurs distinctions between interior and exterior and emphasises a material agenda of externality, along with sink and product display shelving marked by the use of copper—whose warmth and softness complements the hue of coated steel countertops.