About Face

Savvy beauty retailers are turning to innovative interiors, avant-garde merchandising and intimate, tailor-made experiences in a bid to tempt shoppers offline and into their brick-and-mortar stores.

- Georgina Safe

WHEN AESOP OPENED ITS NEW STORE on Sydney’s Pitt Street in September, it looked to the rugged forms and hefty scale of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artwork Wrapped Coast for inspiration. Envisioned by international architecture firm Snøhetta and its senior interior architect Peter Girgis to mark the skincare company’s 30th anniversary, the sandstone building’s cloistered, softly lit interior is enveloped in monumental granite panels, bringing a little coastal serenity to the city’s bustling CBD. “There was a desire to make a space that would have the spirit of all that is great about Aesop,” Peter says of the store, which is now the brand’s largest boutique in the world. “The idea was to create a place that is memorable and we wanted it to have an environment that is soothing, calm and transforming.”

As the new Aesop store attests, the generic glossy aesthetic of retail interiors is changing radically in Australia’s booming beauty market, which is worth $4.2 billion, according to IBISWorld. Globally, the cosmetic retail industry is expected to grow annually by 2.8% and reach $US863 billion by 2024, according to Zion Market Research. To stand out in a crowded marketplace, brands are focusing on installations and immersive experiences and, thanks to this shift, architecture firms such as Snøhetta are putting striking interiors and customer interaction front and centre, making a trip to the beauty store a holistic, spa-like affair.