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Paul Holdengräber talks to Aesop's first employee about human interaction, sensory experiences and building the brand by communicating sensitivity 

In order to fully succumb to sensory experiences, the position that enables our comfortable passage into worlds unknown is entirely tied to our state of mind at that present time. It’s a state that can be eased through human interaction, allowing a sense of contentedness that invites new explorations.

Finding difference by disregarding the movements of others, and authenticity by resisting the hype they receive, Aesop Founding Associate and Chief Customer Officer Suzanne Santos founded the brand on an exchange of words and ideas. In a short film, directed by Catherine Hyland for Aesop, Santos and American interviewer, curator and writer Paul Holdengräber explore the importance of conversation in parallel to the brand’s ethos.

In its sensitivity to the world, and desire to communicate it, Aesop has developed through its storytelling – like its namesake, allowing sensory discovery to give way to clarity of thought. From its beginnings in Melbourne in 1987, Aesop has been driven by synergies: between bodies and the botanical preparations we expose them to, the ambience and aromas that dictate our environment, and the spaces that house their stores – each architecturally considered, intended to become woven into the fabric of the street on which they stand.

For Santos, every element of Aesop, from the vials and jars, to the architecture of each store location, is designed to underscore the formulas they contain. Shot within Aesop’s London Regent Street store, the conversation considers the importance of everyday philosophy and deep thinking to Aesop’s infallible sense of identity: solidified by silencing outside influences for the sake of authenticity. Centering the brand’s capability for “attending to people’s pleasure”, Holdengräber leads a journey into a space in which every minute detail is considered – mirroring the minutiae around us, and the shared systems of thinking that become the axis of human connection. 

We are thrilled to announce the shortlisted artists for the 2023 Loose Joints and Mahler & LeWitt Publishing Ecology Award.

The annual award recognises new photographic talent through an all-expenses-paid artists’ residency in Italy, at Mahler & LeWitt Studios, developing work to be published by Loose Joints. With a different theme every year responding to current topics and issues, this year we invited artists engaging with the anthropocene, climate change and the environment.

This year’s five shortlisted artists:
– Catherine Hyland (UK), The Future of Farming

– Seif Kousmate (MA), WAHA واحة

– Calista Lyon (AUS/US), The Unknown and the Unnamed
– Will Matsuda (US), Afterglows
– Ngadi Smart (SL/UK), Wata Na Life