From posh restaurants to aspirational homes, Aesop handwash is everywhere – helped by Covid. But will the bubble burst?
I first noticed Aesop’s little amber bottles popping up in smart restaurants and hotel rooms a few years ago: they were glass ambassadors from a faraway country of refined, futuristic beauty products. Then I spotted them on The Modern House website (and occasionally on Howdens furniture catalogue), positioned next to brick-tile showers and Belfast sinks. By spring 2020, the bottles were everywhere, the little vials of its Post-Poo Drops (designed to mask bad odours) in the loo shorthand for a certain kind of domestic sophistication.
The Aesop bathroom was in a house with Veja trainers in the hallway, Torres crisps in the cupboard and an Alison Roman pasta dish warming in an Our Place pan on the stove. Like Diptyque candles, Aesop products were a cultural signifier far beyond their practical applications. I have a friend who admitted to placing a bottle in the bathroom when they were trying to sell their flat.
