Aesop San Lorenzo in Lucina

Our first collaboration with Studio Luca Guadagnino resulted from a chance Los Angeles encounter with the esteemed auteur—and our admiration for the Studio’s design mastery. The store is located in Piazza di San Lorenzo in Lucina, close to the fifth-century church of San Lorenzo in Lucina, originally a domus ecclesiae—a household that was a place of worship and refuge alike. The tones and materiality of this historic site and other local architecture, such as the Pantheon, held strong sway, along with a genius loci and some of Rome’s memorable personalities: Maria Callas, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Alberto Moravia. Imperfect and rudimental use of regionally sourced materials—straw, marble and travertine—effect a cohesive whole inside a modestly proportioned space, exuding a sense of monastic order and tranquility. Three tones of travertine cover the floor in a rhomboidal pattern in subtle homage to the interior of the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina. The internal furniture is construed as blocks inlaid with regionally sourced. Architectural straw sheaves articulate the ceiling, inspired by the thatched roofs of houses common during ancient times to the Agro Pontino outside the city.