Aer Retail Stores by FIGURE
For travel gear brand Aer, San Francisco practice FIGURE has developed a series of retail spaces that bring the company’s functional sensibility into an architectural setting. Spanning New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, the stores share a restrained design language built around geometric forms, considered detailing and flexible displays. Each responds to its own footprint and context, giving the growing collection a consistent identity with room for variation.
The collaboration began with Aer’s first move into physical retail. Founded by brothers Allen and Andy Choi in 2014, the brand established itself as an international online business before approaching FIGURE five years later to design its first brick-and-mortar store. Allen already knew the practice through a connection dating back to his architecture studies at UC Berkeley.
That first commission laid the groundwork for a retail concept organised around clarity, modularity and restraint. FIGURE developed a display system that could accommodate different interior conditions and changing merchandising needs, translating Aer’s emphasis on simplicity, utility and durability into a practical framework for its stores.
In New York and San Francisco, stepped millwork follows the perimeter of each interior, taking its cue from the smooth movement of an airport luggage carousel. The reference is closely tied to the objects on display, giving the bags a quiet architectural frame that keeps their clean silhouettes at the centre of attention.
Satin aluminium and speckled recycled rubber define this framework. The metal’s soft sheen sits against the textured rubber, introducing subtle differences in surface and finish within a tightly controlled, two-tone palette. The composition is spare, but the contrast gives the interiors a tactile quality that complements the products.
The 1,000-square-foot New York flagship gives the scheme a more expansive setting. San Francisco’s 600-square-foot store takes on a more intimate character, with its smaller footprint and historic irregularities informing the arrangement. A shared material language connects the two, while their differing proportions shape the experience of browsing.
Concrete floors, white walls and discreet track lighting provide a clear backdrop for the perimeter displays. The rubber introduces softness and absorbs sound, tempering the harder surfaces and contributing to a calmer atmosphere. Environmental considerations also inform the specification, which includes recycled rubber, Greenguard Gold-certified aluminium and Emeco stools made from recycled aluminium.
The Los Angeles store at The Row DTLA extends the collaboration to a third city. Across the series, the connection between product and setting remains close. Practical displays, legible spaces and a carefully limited palette give physical expression to the qualities that define Aer’s travel essentials.
