Stone house facades, rubble-filled basements, and stories by Roald Dahl are just some of the things design studio JamesPlumb referenced to create the Aesop store in Bath, England, which even includes a library.
The store on Bath's New Bond Street has been designed by JamesPlumb to honour the materiality and architectural landscape of the English city, which is defined by its abundance of warm, honey-coloured buildings crafted from Bath stone.

"Aesop's main brief is always to create a store that responds to and is sympathetic to its location? however, we didn't want our design to feel like a history lesson. Our aim was to create a quiet, contemporary distillation of the city," James Russell and Hannah Plumb, founders of the studio, told Dezeen. "We were drawn to the basements and lower floors of buildings where a simple but functional aesthetic prevails, but with wonderful details and honest materiality."

After traversing the city's residences, roads, museums, and quarries for research, the studio decided to subtly reflect the imagery they'd seen within the shop's interiors.
Pale tiles reclaimed from a nearby chapel are laid across the floors, complemented by white-painted walls and service counter. Rough fragments of Bath stone found in the building's lower level have been placed on steel pegs and displayed artefact-style between the shelves.

The same stone has been used to make chunky basins where customers can stand and test various products. Each...