Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA
Reclaimed timber boxes are piled up to the ceiling to create a wall of shelves at the new San Francisco store for skin and haircare brand Aesop (+ slideshow).
![Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/Dezeen_Aesop-Fillmore-Street-by-NADAAA_3.jpg)
Designed by Boston architects NADAAA, Aesop Fillmore Street draws inspiration from pre-twentieth century apothecaries, where assorted bottles and tubes would be displayed on a jumble of wall-mounted shelves.
![Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/Dezeen_Aesop-Fillmore-Street-by-NADAAA_2.jpg)
The boxes were made to measure using reclaimed wooden boards, which were sanded on one side to create a variation between the inside and outside surfaces.
![Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/Dezeen_Aesop-Fillmore-Street-by-NADAAA_1.jpg)
Architect Nader Tehrani explained: "Aesop has carefully considered dimensions of products as well as a clear methodology of display and presentation. We used these measurements as a means to create and array the boxes to best fulfill the quantity and types of products."
![Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/Dezeen_Aesop-Fillmore-Street-by-NADAAA_7.jpg)
Due to the limited width of the store, the boxes are only located on one wall to prevent narrowing the room and they also integrate a wooden counter with two basins.
![Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/Dezeen_Aesop-Fillmore-Street-by-NADAAA_4.jpg)
The remaining walls are lined with cork, as is a second counter that can be moved into different positions.
![Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/Dezeen_Aesop-Fillmore-Street-by-NADAAA_5.jpg)
"The cork is used as a scalar and textural counterbalance to the wall," added Tehrani. "Cork has a material depth that softens the surfaces and helps attenuate undesired sounds."
![Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA Aesop Fillmore Street by NADAAA](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2013/01/Dezeen_Aesop-Fillmore-Street-by-NADAAA_6.jpg)
Aesop stores always feature unique designs because brand founder Dennis Paphitis didn't want to create a "soulless chain", as he told Dezeen when we met up with him recently. Other interesting Aesop branches include a Singapore shop with coconut-husk string hanging from the ceiling and a New York kiosk made from piles of newspapers.
See all our stories about Aesop »
Here's a little more text from the brand:
Aesop Fillmore Street
San Francisco recently welcomed its first Aesop signature store at 2454 Fillmore Street, in a neighbourhood shaped by consecutive influxes of Eastern European, Japanese and African-American residents, and the heydays of American jazz and rock.
The result of a collaboration with Boston architectural firm NADAAA, this space is sibling to another launched simultaneously in Manhattan’s SoHo district. Both stores have been designed around a fascination with pre-twentieth century apothecaries and twenty-first century skin care. The predominant element in each is a tapestry of shelving crafted from reclaimed wooden boxes. Subdivided and pixilated by the varying dimensions of the boxes, the arrangement invites visual and tactile exploration; its dominance is balanced here by a cork wall and ceiling, and dark masonite flooring.