Collaboration with Aesop

The skincare, haircare and body products specialist Aesop chose ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne to design two accessories for its brand : an electric essential oil burner and a washbag. In doing so, Aesop clearly showed it cared for smart and sustainable design.

Collaboration (2018)

After an in-depth presentation and a visit to the three Aesop shops in Zurich, 17 ECAL graduate students from the MAS in Design for Luxury & Craftsmanship started working under the leadership of professor and designer Tomas Kral. At the end of the workshop, a jury made up of some of the brand executives – among them Mandy Cupper, Head of Product, who had made the trip from Melbourne especially – selected some twenty projects that explored materials as varied as wood, cork, natural resins, ceramic, hand-blown glass and textile. In addition to an aesthetic and innovating design, the students’ brief included sustainability.

Through working prototypes, students imagined projects such as a neoprene washbag inspired from the surfing world or a pocket-size foldable washbag, an essential oil burner producing steam reminiscent of Japanese mountains and a completely transparent oil burner revealing its fan blades and its usual bottle of essential oils. All the other projects also have their own distinctive world in which our bodies and minds are invited to travel through our senses of sight, smell and touch.

Calypso Mahieu - Visit at Aesop Oberdorfstrasse, Zurich.

Calypso Mahieu - Visit at Aesop Oberdorfstrasse, Zurich. Photo: Philipp Rupp

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Ballerina ECAL/Aleksandra Żeromska Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

Collusion ECAL/Georg Foster Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

Levis ECAL/Laure Manhes Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

Ventyl ECAL/Oubadah Nouktah Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

Scala ECAL/Laure Manhes Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

Penedo ECAL/Omer Polak Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

Skin ECAL/Jérôme Laurendeau Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

Spinning Tops ECAL/Margo Clavier Photo: ECAL/Calypso Mahieu

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