At the intersection of architecture, sensory experience, and the human body, Aesop continues to redefine the boundaries of retail and design. In “The Second Skin”, a temporary installation unveiled during this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan, the brand deepened its commitment to experiential spaces—offering not a showroom, but an embodied encounter. Conceived by Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi, Aesop’s Head of Retail Design for Europe and Global Head of Innovation, the installation was a poetic exploration of thresholds—where material, memory, and the self converge.
“As a long-standing, enthusiastic supporter of well-considered design and architecture, it is only natural for Aesop to partner with Salone del Mobile.Milano,” said Garance Delaye, Brand President of Aesop, on the momentous occasion. “The festival is a chance for us to support an important moment in the design world’s calendar—and to show our reverence for a city with which we have strong connections through our permanent spaces. It is also an opportunity to explore our own ideas on how architecture can amplify the senses, particularly when in dialogue with deeply spiritual edifices like the Chiesa del Carmine. ‘The Second Skin’ does that in an enigmatic and profound way.’
Set within the sacristy of a historic Milanese church, the project drew from the architectural grandeur of the city’s entrances to craft a ritualistic passage from exterior to interior. Hand balm-infused plaster walls enveloped visitors like an epidermal cocoon, while sensorial anchors—a cedarwood table by Sebastian Cox, 20th century Italian furniture from Morentz, elevated wash basins, and curated scents—engaged body and mind alike.
Here, Bonnefoi speaks with Whitewall about designing for the senses, the role of sustainability in Aesop’s evolving language of place, and how true innovation begins by returning to the body.
Salone del Mobile 2025 Creative Process; Marianne Lardilleux, Global Retail Design Director, and Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi, Head of Retail Design Innovation; Courtesy of Aesop.
Salone del Mobile 2025 Creative Process; Marianne Lardilleux, Global Retail Design Director, and Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi, Head of Retail Design Innovation; Courtesy of Aesop.
WHITEWALL: “The Second Skin” installation explores the interconnection of dermis and design. Could you elaborate on how this concept was developed and the inspiration behind linking skin’s property and architectural elements?
JEAN-PHILIPPE BONNEFOI: As a skin care brand, what interests us is not cosmetic and the cosmetic industry. What interests us is very much the relationship of the body to its environment—and the environment is architecture.
We started looking at the Milan entrances, these magnificent pieces of architecture that you can see when you walk through Milan. Wherever you walk, in any street, you see these kinds of grandiose entrances, always made with beautiful materials. There is really a kind of a second d’entre, something very theatrical, to lead to the interior. So, it’s really preparing your body from the streets to going to your private space. It’s very much a transition to your inner world.
We wanted to create a metaphor for people to feel this passage from the exterior to the interior. That’s why in the sacristy we created this structure where you really go inside. The walls are made of hand balm, a mix of plaster and hand balm. This kind of envelope creates a second skin for you in a very condensed way. It’s a very central experience for people. The installation features elevated hand basins and a 16-metre long cedar wood table crafted by Sebastian Cox.
“We wanted to create a metaphor for people to feel this passage from the exterior to the interior,”
Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi
WW: How do these design choices contribute to the immersive experience you aim to create for visitors?
JPB: For us, when you enter a new substore, the first thing that we want you to experience is not the sight, it’s not what you see. The first thing that we want to experience is the smell. The reason why we don’t need big logos or big branding is because people smell before seeing. This is just one example to show how, as a brand, we can do things differently.
We want the 1,500 to 2,000 visitors every day to wash their hands, to have contact with themselves and with the architecture. A sink is a piece of design, it’s in a space, it’s architecture in a way, but we don’t want to look at design as a kind of object that you contemplate and you just look at. We want people to use it and to experience it.
Take the table. We had this courtyard, and the building in itself is very beautiful, it’s not as if we would start to dress it with fabric or waste material. Everything that we designed has a function. The sink is to wash their hands, the table is to display this body cast, and each has a smell. We wanted to have a very functional table, around which we could have sensory interactions.
On Monday night, we had an opening event performance. Last night, we had a dinner. It was almost like a village setting around which you gather and you can have different things happening. The table is 16 meters but it’s made of three parts, so we will then find a new home in a store for it.
Aesop’s “The Second Skin” Engages the Senses through Sustainable Practices
Courtesy of AESOP.
WW: Aesop is known for engaging multiple senses in its spaces. How does “The Second Skin” utilize the senses and visual elements to convey its narrative?
JPB: First of all, by challenging the perception of where you are and what you have to do. Basically we just use the human body as an element to feel, to hear, to touch, to smell. At the moment, we live in a society where everything is flattened. Social media is just giving you information very instantly, but it’s mostly the look and the sound that are used. There are other ways you can use to draw people’s attention.
There is a quote from Maya Angelou saying, “people will not remember what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel.” And I think one of the things that for us is very important, is to understand how we can enter people’s lives. Not with big marketing, not with big promises, not playing on people’s insecurities, but very much into nourishing people, elevating their knowledge around design, creating very nice experiences. People want to be nourished, they want to learn and discover new things.
The sensory elements that we use are very much designed to put people in society in a specific state of mind to discover things.
“There is a quote from Maya Angelou saying, people will not remember what you did, but they will remember how you made them feel,”
Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi
WW: Is sustainability a core value for Aesop? Can you discuss how this installation reflects sustainable practices, particularly in material selection design processes?
JPB: 38 years ago Dennis and Suzanne, the founders of Aesop, set up the brand. First of all, you have to imagine the 80s, everything was different. Products were yellow, purple, green, there was an abundance of packaging. They came up with these amber bottles, everything that was inside the product was explained on one label. The decision to create stores that would fit the local context, with local architects, and local materials, was the foundation of what people now call sustainability.
“The decision to create stores that would fit the local context, with local architects, and local materials, was the foundation of what people now call sustainability,”
Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi
But the concept that you duplicate it all over is basically just a pragmatic decision. For us, sustainability 38 years ago was pragmatism. You are in Italy, you work with Vincenzo de Cotiis, you work with Dimore, you produce with artisans. Most importantly, it was never the idea to have a concept that we would try and apply whether you are in Tokyo, in New York, in Paris or in Rio. We always took the stores with their history, the way they belong to the streets they are in, and we tried not to remove more than we need. We would also not add decoration, we would not create things, because someone decided that it needed to be like this. We really tried to strip back as much as we can, add what we had, what we have to, to operate functionally, and then that’s it.
Then the relationship we have with the temporary installation now, for us, is very true. Everything that we do has to have a second life. This furniture, it will return to its home country. Some people want to buy something, so we will ship it to them. The table is going to be either in a big store or it’s going to be separated in three, and maybe be in the kitchen of our London office, in a store in the back of the house. The seats are going to have another life. We are not doing something for a trend or because it’s nice or it’s beautiful. We are doing it because it’s going to have a purpose.
Step Inside Chiesa del Carmine, the 15th-century Church in the Center of Brera
Courtesy of AESOP.
WW: Can you tell us about the inside of the church?
JPB: Last year, the installation we did with the soaps, is now a permanent store in London on Brompton Road. It’s very nice to see the two spaces together, because you see the same story but in a different configuration, beyond the image. What you experience there is also architectural thinking.
Last year, for the “The Second Skin” installation, we drew it and built it in a kind of modular system. We can decide to redo it, just either add or remove some parts if we want to reuse only the panels. Also, the fact that you have elements of smell, like the cedar wood…for me, it was the first time I saw cedar wood, so it was a pretty interesting experience. There are so many interesting things to discover. When our team came up with this idea, we started to create the structure. The way it’s dramatized, the smell and everything, it’s so simple but so beautiful.
“It’s so simple but so beautiful,”
Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi
Right now we are in a space that is kind of like a salon, a private location inside the project. The capsule of respite features 20th century Italian furniture sourced from design gallery Morentz.
WW: How did this collaboration come about and what impact does it have on the overall experience?
JPB: We have a history with Morentz. We started working with them more than 10 years ago, and from time to time we buy pieces. In New York, we opened a store in Wall Street, and the store is essentially the former lobby of a building. It’s 8 meters high, super narrow, but quite long. We wanted to restore the original idea of the lobby that was destroyed so we bought this huge chandelier. This chandelier comes from Morentz. When we had the opportunity here, having a space, and we started to understand what we would do, we invited them to come to Paris for lunch.
WW: This is the second time you are showing during Salone, and the first time as an official sensory patron. How do you envision the installation influencing future ideas of spaces or collaborations?
JPB: I don’t think it’s going to influence, but it’s just going to reinforce the idea that people are not coming for a marketing campaign. They are coming to be moved. There are people who said that the most beautiful installation they saw were the ones that involved their body. And we want to continue, because I think we are just at the beginning of what we can do, and how we can make people feel. And that is a word that was used by my colleague, he said, “we want to re-sensitize the world.”
When you travel in an airport, all the airports are the same, the light is very bright, the air is very light. You are always in this kind of same environment, neglecting the environment, the different cultures, but even the smells that you may have in nature.
“I think we are just at the beginning of what we can do, and how we can make people feel,”
Jean-Philippe Bonnefoi
I think what we want to do is to be more open to the other senses, of everything around us, and to discover and be a bit more animalistic in a way—because we are animals. And to return to our true self.
