The white-tile interior of this Aesop store has been designed by Mlkk Studio to match the materiality of buildings dotted around Taipei's Daan district.
The Aesop Daan Signature store ? which is shortlisted in the retail category of the 2019 Dezeen Awards ? is located on a quiet street corner, and takes inspiration from the pale ceramic tiles that can be seen on the district's shopfronts and buildings.
Matte alabaster tiles run across the store's front facade and into its ground-floor interior, creating what Mlkk Studio describes as a "gentle continuation of the streetscape".

"The design explores the tension between nature and urban environments," said the studio, which is based in Hong Kong.
"These dominating ceramic tiles define the city as rigid, durable and unchangeable, but [our] design instead embraces the peculiarities, cracks and imperfections that develop over time to create a record of a changing environment."
The store comprises a retail space, treatment room, flexible meeting area and back-of-house office. It's fronted by large windows that look out across a planted patio and the adjacent road.
Tiles line the walls, ceiling and a pair of chunky service counters that help loosely arrange the space.
A few surfaces have deliberately been left exposed to reveal the textured mortar beneath, intended to sit in contrast to the polished ceramic tiles.

Behind the sales counter lies a sliding door that can be drawn back to extend the spac...