Creative anastylosis: this is the term we developed while working on Aesop's Avinguda Diagonal store in Barcelona. Anastylosis is a term that describes the architectural conservation of ancient monuments by reassembling their original pieces as precisely as possible; “creative” because the purpose in this case was not to reconstruct but to craft a new structure from discarded stone. In this way, the conventional design process was reversed—instead of starting with an imagined form and materialising it, we started with materials and reimagined what they could become.

With the intention of reusing local materials, we approached the Barbany family of master stonemasons, who have worked on the city’s edifices and monuments for more than 130 years. Many of these buildings are made of Montjuïc stone, which was extracted from the eponymous mountain just outside of Barcelona from the sixth century BC until the twentieth century and is renowned for its strength and exquisite colouring. As luck would have it, Barbany artesans had been storing remnants of the rock from demolished nineteenth century buildings in a defunct quarry for years. We conducted pseudo archeology, discovering, under wild vegetation, pieces from Gothic quarter buildings, ancient fountains, arcades and plinths. Seventy-eight of these shards, carefully catalogued and assembled, now make up the installation within Aesop Diagonal.

The project gives prominence to the creamy, sedimentary rock that supports the exploration of Aesop's unconventional formulations. The shell of the space is cast in textured stucco that resonates with the blocks’ warmth, while stainless steel shelves, taps and other functional fixtures bring a cool precision to the gestural forms. At the basins—wells hewn into the found Montjuïc chunks—customers can encounter formulations best suited to their individual needs. In the depths of the store, an expansive, custom-made sofa recalls the stacking of un-carved boulders. Customers are invited to repose on the distinctly soft surface and contemplate the contrasts of density and delicacy, memory and futurity, that this store holds in astonishing equilibrium.