Aesop Aoyama — Schemata Architects, Tokyo. Reclaimed-wood register, 2010; the long Aesop partnership the studio became known for.
Photography pending
Founded 1998 by Jo Nagasaka. Material-reuse and local-sourcing-led. Works quietly at smaller scale than most luxury retail studios but shapes the aesthetic vocabulary that bigger brands adopt. The Aesop partnership alone is a reference case for how long-term retail relationships compound editorial value.
Jo Nagasaka’s practice works at smaller scale than most of the studios on this Directory, but the material-reuse and local-sourcing discipline across the Aesop and Le Labo partnerships is a reference case that larger practices continue to absorb.