Aether's Airstream

The AetherStream, as the company calls it, is presently in Los Angeles, though it will be setting out in early November for New York. Instead of a pop-up shop, the idea is to have a kind of mobile shop, one that functions just as well on the beach as in a downtown lot. The Airstream itself is a 34-foot PanAmerica model. Gaugain calls it a "beautiful, technological object."

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Here's a view of the interior, which houses a fireplace by the contemporary fireplace company Focus and custom furniture (including the workbench) built by the L.A. firm Environment. The floor is made of reclaimed oak from Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. In keeping with the vagabond adventurer, Gaugain told me that the workbench is the kind of place where he might repair his motorcycle or wax his skis.

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Call it a kind of "brand experience" but you're meant to enter Aether's world inside the Airstream, and the other objects (books, camping gear) all reinforce the idea of a well-curated manly getaway.

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Even our restless adventurer needs a place to lay his head.

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Gaugain told me that although much of the work for the AetherStream was custom, he and Aether's founders wanted a degree of vintage bric-a-brac to give the space the sense of having been around the block a time or two. Gaugain sourced much of what you see inside from his favorite Parisian flea markets. "A toy chest on wheels for a guy."

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A quick glimpse of the back opened up. As you can see, not every square foot is devoted to retail. "The purpose is not to have a 100% efficient shop," says Gaugain. Instead he wants to suggest "the life of the story," as opposed to creating a strictly commercial experience.

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