Dennis Paphitis

Dennis Paphitis is an Australian-born Greek-Cypriot. In 1987, he founded the seeds of Aesop through his modest Melbourne hair salon, developing codes for an alternative approach to well-being and grooming. This outlook evolved, quietly and insistently, into nearly five hundred architect-commissioned stores, in more than twenty countries. Paphitis stepped away from the company in 2012, later distilling the house philosophy in Aesop (Rizzoli, 2019) — a manifesto that regards commerce more as conversation than conquest. Today he lends his curiosity to new pursuits: the Robin Boyd Foundation’s advocacy for humane architecture; Échapper, an assortment of experimental linen produced in Japan; Brunswick Markets, an urban-renewal townhouse partnership with Molonglo; and To My Ships, a personal care collection touched by The Iliad. Throughout, Paphitis remains faithful to a single idea — that empathetic, attentive design can civilise the everyday.

Jack Patrick Garner

Jack Garner has a background in the humanities, research, marketing, and investment analysis, underpinned by undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Monash University in Melbourne, specialising in marketing research. His professional path has spanned a range of industries, from hospitality to digital content management. Since 2015, Jack has worked as right hand to Dennis Paphitis, responsible for researching and evaluating investment opportunities, ESG screening, brand ideation, and property acquisition and development. His work includes projects with Aesop, Notting Hill Editions, Échapper and Brunswick Markets. Beyond the office, Jack is an avid ultra-marathon trail runner, completing races of up to 100 miles. He is also actively involved in Alpine Search and Rescue Victoria and Bush Search and Rescue Victoria, applying his endurance skills to the support of backcountry safety initiatives.