Traditional Malay houses rely on a simple timber-frame
structure. Built for the tropical climate, they have pitched roofs, front
porches, high ceilings, and many apertures in the walls for ventilation. These
openings are often embellished with elaborate wood carvings, which are both
decorative and functional: they allow for the air to flow while preserving
privacy. The design of Aesop Suria KLCC abstracts these elements to create a
space of ornamental domesticity—somewhere to linger in cool comfort.

 

The store is organised into two chambers. The first,
with its lowered ceiling and anthracite-hued sisal and walls, is a veranda of
sorts, acting as shady threshold between the mall and our interior. Acoustic
decompression, visual relief, olfactory intrigue. The second is revealed as the
curious visitor turns the bend—a deep, narrow hall doused in natural clay
plaster in a refreshing mineral blue. Here, the dramatically slanted ceiling
effects an immediate intimacy.

 

Above the staggered shelves, a rhythmic sequence of
banisters frames a certain feeling of familiarity. The carved Nyatoh
wooden elements were sourced from demolished houses around Malaysia and
reconfigured into sculptural panels by a local carpenter. Guests are invited to
explore our range of products for the skin, hair, body and home at the central
basins; a generous bench in the depths beckons to those wanting to inhabit the
space a while longer.