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

1/2

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

Projets similaires

See more projects

Aina Wang – Once Gold

MAS DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Aina Wang – Once Gold

by Aina Wang

In the 19th century, Prussian citizens gave up their gold to support the war, receiving cast-iron jewellery engraved ‘Gold gab ich für Eisen’ - ‘I gave gold for iron’. Berlin iron, an alloy of iron and carbon, covered in a layer of patinated black lacquer, was born of a moment when personal sacrifice became collective identity. This project revives that gesture by concealing the gold at the heart of the iron, like a buried memory. Inspired by military insignia and Gothic geometry, the piece evokes reverence and loss. Designed for movement, it transforms into ten forms, from brooch to pendant to belt, linking the ritual of the past with the wear and tear of the present.

Arnaud Tantet – : To a Glacier

MAS DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Arnaud Tantet – : To a Glacier

by Arnaud Tantet

Global warming is transforming the landscapes around us. The melting of the ice is intensifying, affecting the thousand-year-old glaciers of Europe. The aim of this project, : To a Glacier, is to use design to bear witness to the Mont Blanc glacier. This work is based around holistic field research, in the form of objects, photos, brochures and sounds directly inspired by these disappearing giants. Developed in collaboration with glass artisans at the CIAV (Centre International d'Art Verrier, in Meisenthal), the results of this project have included a number of experiments in glass, using moulds made from different materials.

Bom Noh – Plastic Love

MAS DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Bom Noh – Plastic Love

by Bom Noh

Plastic Love reinterprets the sculptural gestures of the Murano chandelier—a historical icon of luxury—to question how we define craftsmanship and value in contemporary context. Combining digital tools with the trace of the hand, the work emphasises the irregularities and physical presence that resist automation. Plastic, long associated with mass production and ecological harm, is reframed not as a cheap substitute but as a site of embodied labour and material critique. Through repetition, imperfection, and time, it gains a new kind of beauty. By deliberately choosing a material often dismissed, the project unsettles inherited hierarchies and challenges our assumptions about refinement—demonstrating how design can function not as a solution, but as a question.

Coline Schenck – Les formes de l’inconscient

MAS DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Coline Schenck – Les formes de l’inconscient

by Coline Schenck

Glazed earthenware pieces, intended for tableware and daily use, are developed through a process combining mental well-being and sensory design. Studies in neuroscience and neuroaesthetics are analyzed to identify shapes, colors, and textures that promote calm. This data is first translated visually into pastel compositions, then transformed into volumes adapted to the function of each object. The graphic composition seeks to visually stimulate while minimizing cognitive load, while the volume invites attentive tactile exploration. In a daily environment marked by sensory overload, these objects aim to reintroduce calm by turning the ordinary into a soothing refuge.

Emilie Heger – Typology of the Cut

MAS DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Emilie Heger – Typology of the Cut

by Emilie Heger

The aim of this research project is to bring together the earliest tools from the Palaeolithic era with contemporary gemstone cutting. While flint tools were essential to the survival of early humans, the techniques and gestures involved in stone-cutting have evolved into a particularly refined art, a symbol of wealth and power. Today, the only purpose of working precious stones, perfected by modern tools and technologies, is to maginify the reflection of light in order to produce aesthetic artefacts that are freed from their function. Typology of the Cut is a curatorial project that explores the duality between function and expression in relation to stone-cutting.

Related courses

See all courses

MAS DESIGN FOR LUXURY & CRAFTSMANSHIP