Pure Aesthetic: Aesop, Westmount, Montreal, Quebec

For Aesop, small spaces warrant big investment. Established in Melbourne in 1987, the high-end brand of skin care products opened its first boutique there in 2004. Aesop doesn’t advertise or offer product discounts; instead, it’s made its name as an aficionado of design. It showcases its unique approach to retail architecture with stores in the world’s most coveted shopping destinations, and in its online archive of their creation, Taxonomy of Design. Working with Montreal-based Alain Carle Architecte, Aesop opened its first signature store in Canada’s cultural capital last winter, in the affluent neighbourhood of Westmount..