In Bath (UK) the Aesop New Bond Street store by designer Jamesplumb celebrates Bath stone drawn from the city itself.
Reclaimed from a Chapel nearby, the city’s iconic stone is used for the store’s flooring. Subject to years of congregational footfall, the well worn recovered stone is embedded with the character of human treads and paths.
Bath stone reclaimed from the building’s basement is incorporated into interior elements throughout with select pieces framed on the walls. The sinks, shelves and counters are also made from this single monolithic stone. For these larger pieces, a four-tonne block was chosen from a local quarry in Limpley Stoke. The stone was excavated, cut, and worked by hand with saw lines.
Alongside the stone, painted wood and simple elements eschew any ornamentation result in an almost monastic feeling due to the subtle simplicity throughout.
The upper floor of the building offers a more domestic sensibility. The pared-back space includes a re-discovered fireplace that is restored and retained, and windows are reinstated to old corners.
