Contessa 2019: Q&A with Salon Interior Design Winner, Album Hair

We spoke with Album Hair, who took home the Salon Interior Design award at the 30th annual Contessa Awards.

What does winning this award mean to you?

I’ve been a finalist, but the one time it’s kind of surreal. This design has a lot of input form my clients to create more of a lounge aspect, the retail space with the service space. Retail isn’t divided into one area, ours is all loaded in. When you walk in the dividing wall is our retail space. Besides the wall are the shampoo chairs right at the front. We are known for our colour service, and we are creating a different element of it. The retail is our dividing wall. It’s like a hotel lounge, when you walk in you see that you have someone to assist you immediately, we serve beverages in our

Tell me about your design choices. What was the concept behind it?

Everything is customized and even our station is moveable, we can moveable to have the stations move for education. I have the good fortune of always begin able to make the space different and it helps you always be creative.  The neutral palette and the lighting was very important to us, the whole light is almost neutral in tone. It wall went well with the colour tone, metal wood and stone.

How is creating the right atmosphere for shooting an interior space different?

Shooting for interiors is very different than hair and I have worked with very good photographer for interiors, and I just went through what represented the salon.

I want people to have the feeling of creating a memory. You need an experience a time and place and I look at how can I create an establishment and escalate the place a little further with a better experience for their appointment.

If you weren’t a hairstylist, what do you think you would be doing?

I’m still a hairstylist and I can’t imagine anything, trying to sell an experience. Hopefully I’ll be opening a new location with a different concept.