Aesop Rosedale store interior

Nature expressed through material and form

Aesop Rosedale is located in one of the city’s oldest residential enclaves, which is neatly defined by winding streets and crescents set along a lush, mysterious and vast ravine system that demarcates it from Downtown.

Created in partnership with architects from local practice superkül, the store’s design draws upon the neighbourhood’s historical and topographical significance. It suggests a secret garden within which architecture behaves as a substrate for natural growth—and which offers welcome respite from Yonge Street’s customary bustle.

The material palette emphasises links to nature; design gestures also subtly mimic these relationships. Randomly scattered lighting, for example, subtly evokes stellar constellations; on the north wall, it reflects softly off a perforated screen to create a dappled effect reminiscent of sunlight through a garden trellis. Soft-toned grey walls accentuate the forest green of the adjacent wall.

‘So still were the big woods where I sat, sound might not yet have been born.’

Emily Carr