Esrawe + Cadena creates fragrance "temple" for Xinú Oaxaca showroom

Basalt rock formations informed the display inside this atmospheric retail showroom in Oaxaca, which Mexico City-based design team Esrawe + Cadena designed for its own fragrance brand.

The space for Esrawe + Cadena's brand Xinú, which launched a decade ago, is located within the courtyard of a colonial residence that is now the home of popular restaurant Criollo.

Inside the small, dimly lit room enveloped entirely in matte black, a stack of black-cement blocks forms a ziggurat in the centre and a staggered cliff towards the back.

The colour and shape of this structure were influenced by the basaltic prisms of San Antonio el Mogote, a geological and archaeological site in the northwest of Oaxaca state.

"Its logic, repetition, verticality, horizontality, and variation, translates into a topography of volumes in soil and black cement, placed in such a way that evoke temple and an altar," said the team.

Each "step" is used to present ephemera that relates to the brand in some way, such as dried plants, incense, stones, and the Xinú products themselves.

A few of the blocks are imprinted with leaves, leaving the ghosts of these varied natural species to be subtly revealed by the interplay of shadows.

Text explaining the brand's ethos is etched into the wall in both Spanish and English, and softly illuminated with spotlights.

Meanwhile, a single rectangular opening in the ceiling casts a shaft of light into the space, which slowly shifts across the display throughout the day and smoke from the burning incense.

"A zenithal opening cuts through the interior, activates the volumes, and allows the presence of time to traverse the space while it transforms the experience through a beam of natural light: an active memory of nature and its encounter with human expression," said the team.

Esrawe + Cadena's earlier retail spaces for Xinú include a wooden pavilion set among lush gardens in Mexico City, which was longlisted for a Dezeen Award in 2024.

Beyond the fragrance brand, founders Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena have collaborated on a multitude of projects that range from a series of spinning chairs at an Arkansas festival, to a Mexico City cafe wrapped in faceted clay panels.

The photography is by Alejandro Ramírez Orozco.

Project credits:

Creative direction: Ignacio Cadena, Héctor Esrawe
Concept and experience: Esrawe + Cadena
Design team: Valentina Pacheco, David Ramos, Mariana Gómez, Juan Eduardo Maldonado, Daniela Buendía Pablo Ávila, Ma. Fernanda Tiran, Kevin Woodtli, Laura Vela Lasagabaster
Concrete Structure: Rokam – Pedro Fernández, Sofia López, Fátima González
Contributors: Chebos, Cerámica Suro, Nouvel Studio, Los Originales contratistas Lanterna, Stampgraff, Aurora, Candor, DucoLab, Taller La Cazadora

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