AESTHÉ
GRAMME
One of the coolest cosmetic clinics to recently open its doors in Paris is Aesthé. The new clinic defies all the common perceptions of how cosmetic establishments should customarily look like, and breaks the design codes of blandly appearing only as a sanitised medical universe. Designed by GRAMME, a Parisian studio led by architects Romain Freychet and Antoine Prax, have set to redefine the parameters of cosmetic interiors. They have reinterpreted the common school of thought to clinical design, by articulating a new concept with its boutique and art-like curation of the space. During the design process, the architects proposed for the clinic to have a ‘sensual, organic and warm intervention where all the senses are awakened.’
Established in 2014, GRAMME is a multidisciplinary studio that works across the fields in architecture, scenography, design and 3D rendering. The duo behind the studio self-describe their production of work as being characterised with a ‘radical aesthetic, nuanced with sensitive and poetic atmospheres. Like the balances of nature, it develops volumes with timeless lines, highlighting raw, essential and durable materials.’ Their design philosophy resides in the belief that luxury is present in ‘the sobriety, the silence of the compositions and the tension of the anachronisms’.
Located in the heart of Le Marais, Aesthé is occupied within a heritage building that is spread across three main floors. The architects had to work closely in consultation with Les Architectes des Bâtiments de France in order to preserve the history and original fabric of the building during the process of the renovation. Original details such as the stone brick walls were preserved and left exposed, and archways were worked into the design of the clinic - such as the custom shelving cabinet that was built around an arched doorway to contain amusing and carefully selected sculptural pieces.
The architects added warmth to the space through the use of various materials from leather chairs, boucle sofas, and a range of wooden textures in the form of sculptural elements such as decorative objects, furniture pieces and structural elements. One of the main wooden features of the ground level is the rich walnut veneer that has been used as a part of the sculptural elements such as the reception desk, to the low-curved partition that gestures the circulation of the space, and the dressing of the concrete pillar used to soften the appearance of the structural concrete detail in the centre of the foyer. The use of DTILEs has also been used as an modernist expression within the space, as it has been applied to the the custom cabinetry and shelving behind the reception desk.
Throughout the clinic, artistic pieces in the form of lighting, chairs and artworks have been curated over the three levels of the space like an art gallery, and inherently sparking the sentiment of being avant-garde. 'The textures and temperatures of the various materials invite curiosity, strolling and caressing. They confer a certain preciousness without ever appearing luxurious.’
Aesthé is by no mistake your average cosmetic clinic, as prescribed by Gramme. It is a place where all the design codes of the industry have been thrown away, and redefined the DNA to cosmetic interiors with a new ingenious code.
Photography | Ludovic Balay