Aesop's 'The Second Skin' serves as a sensory escape during the Salone del Mobile exhibition in 2025.
Aesop's installation, "The Second Skin", graced the Milan Design Week 2025 from April 8 to 13, located in the sacred space of Brera's Chiesa del Carmine. This installation, a collaboration between Aesop's design team and Parisian artist Victoria Punturere, aimed to create an intensely personal moment suspended in time.
The installation was designed as a metaphor for the skin's epidermis and the city's entranceways, inviting visitors to push the door of the sacristy, similar to pushing a hidden city entrance. Inside, visitors were greeted with a series of scent interactions, indulging their senses through Eleos Aromatique hand and arm massages.
The Eleos Aromatique products, featuring cedarwood, patchouli, and clove, were launched at the installation, along with a new woody and herbaceous body cleanser and lotion. The installation saw the use of laboratory glassware, moulds of torsos, sinks, cedarwood panels, and videos featuring contemporary dance performances.
The installation aimed to provide a meticulous way to smell the new Eleos scent directly on the body, offering a space for visitors to recompose themselves and walk out the door feeling better for the experience. Co-founder Suzanne Santos shared that "The Second Skin" is about understanding something from the intimacy of self and not expecting a line or category of sameness.
Aesop, the official 'Sensory Patron' of the Milan Design Week 2025, is known for creating site-specific, contemplative environments that combine material textures with sensory engagement. Their installations often reflect cultural and historical narratives related to physical experience and well-being.
For instance, Aesop's recent retail design in Leeds referenced historic Victorian bathrooms to create a relaxing environment, featuring interconnected rooms with timber-paneled cabinets and enamelled troughs to encourage product interaction in a laid-back setting.
"The Second Skin" likely continues Aesop’s tradition by creating a physical and sensory dialogue through its installation, layering textiles to envelop or interact with the visitor, suggesting both protection and exposure akin to a second skin. This installation at Milan Design Week 2025 presumably invites viewers to reconsider their bodily relationship with the space and materials, emphasizing tactility and immersion, consistent with Aesop’s thematic exploration of personal and environmental connection.
Unfortunately, no direct official description or images of "The Second Skin" installation were found in the latest search results. For the most detailed and visual information, checking official Milan Design Week 2025 materials or Aesop’s own communications during or after the event would provide further insights.
Visitors to the Milan Design Week 2025 can expect a fusion of fashion-and-beauty and home-and-garden, as Aesop's installation, "The Second Skin", provides an immersive experience featuring Eleos Aromatique products, alongside a woody and herbaceous body cleanser and lotion. This lifestyle-centric installation encourages patrons to reconsider their bodily connection with the space and materials, emphasizing tactility and immersion, reflecting Aesop's thematic exploration of personal and environmental connection.
