Aesop and Other Matter Showcase New Materials for Melbourne Design Week
For this year’s Melbourne Design Week, Aesop has created an expedition through the city centre that explores the material possibilities of a post-petrochemical world
This year’s edition of Melbourne Design Week is organised around the timely idea of design as an ‘act of repair and transformation’, showcasing projects that can ‘heal, replenish and enable life’. With this in mind, Aesop has continued its partnership with experimental design studio Other Matter to explore the possibilities of new materials, in this case bioplastics. This year, the collaboration will take the form of an interactive exhibition across four Aesop stores in the city centre.
Based on the brands’ shared philosophies and aspirations to imagine better worlds, the collaboration runs throughout Design Week, from Thursday 15 to Sunday 25 May. Each day, Aesop invites the community for a leisurely stroll between four of its stores to experience the exhibition while collecting stamps to mark their visits. Beginning at Aesop Flinders Lane before stopping by Aesop Collins Street and David Jones Bourke Street, the walk finishes at Aesop QV.
Other Matter was founded in Melbourne by artist and experimental designer Jessie French. Based on the ethos of sustainability and regeneration, French’s practice invites engagement with the possibilities of a post-petrochemical world, exploring the potential of closed-loop systems, reuse and interaction with objects. The studio primarily works with algae-based bioplastics, applying these new materials through objects, experiences and conceived futures.
The exhibition will showcase French’s bioplastics in intriguing ways: at Aesop Flinders Lane and Aesop QV, adhesive-free ‘skins’ will be applied to windows as part of the brand’s dedication to reducing unnecessary chemicals; Aesop Collins Street will feature plinths wrapped in Other Matter’s algae-based material, accompanied by a striking suspended print. At David Jones Bourke Street, a floor-to-ceiling curtain made from the material will cover the window, with the installation also including three running showers and live geranium plants in celebration of the Geranium Leaf range. At Aesop QV, visitors will also have the opportunity to pluck one of the shapes from the window to apply to any flat surface at home.
Additionally, on Saturday 17 May, Aesop and French will host a guided tour, where each installation will bloom into life as the artist-designer discusses the basis of the collaboration, its alignment with the Design Week theme and the potential of design as an act of repair and transformation.
Text by Philip Annetta
Images by Good Grief Productions
