With more than 40 years of industry experience, Antoinette Beenders continues to push the boundaries of hair—and isn’t stopping anytime soon. We had the opportunity to chat with the renowned Dutch- born hairstylist at the Aveda Congress and Contessa Awards, which marked her first time back in Canada in 20 years! [
Last year was your first time attending the Contessa Awards. What was that experience like for you?
I bump into a lot of Canadian hairdressers all over the world, so it was lovely to see them. I was super proud, like a proud mother seeing all of the Aveda artists there. We had Allen Ruiz up for International Hairstylist. Sayyeda [Mulla] and Noure [Manchakian]—a lot of emerging talent—and, of course, the win [for the John Steinberg Award for Community Service] with the Aveda Institute in Winnipeg, so it was a very special evening for us. The Contessa Awards are very well recognized internationally. Some U.K. friends of mine have won in the past, and the Contessas come up at other awards shows, too.
As a past judge at the Contessas and other photo-based hair competitions, what would you say that you look for when judging?
I’ve judged the Contessas many times over the years. I love judging hairdressing awards in general because I love looking at the new up-and-coming talent. Awards competitions help bring out that talent. There was a lot of new talent, which is lovely and refreshing because, over the last several years—globally and not just in Canada—we’ve been seeing a lot of the same names.
Being an award-winning artist myself and as someone who still enters awards, I know what it takes. It takes a lot of dedication, hard work and investment. When people put in that much time, it deserves the same time being judged.
For the Contessas, NAHAs and British Hairdressing Awards—all of the higher- end hairdressing awards—I think the judges and level of judging is important. For the winners, it’s a collective of judges all over the world deciding on which ones are the right ones.
Tell us about your role as senior vice-president of global artistry for Aveda and the brand’s biennial event, Congress.
I’m responsible for the inspiration of artists globally but also the artists within the Aveda network. We have more than 50,000 Aveda artists, and I’m such a proud mother because so many of my hair children were on stage, winning awards, and I couldn’t be prouder.
Aveda Congress was created by the brand’s founder, Horst Rechelbacher, as a celebration of the arts. We bring all our top talent from all over the world together for two days of shows. It’s a real treat for our network because they literally see the best artistry that we have. We had Masa Honda from Japan, the brand-new U.K. artistic team, our global artistic team and our North American artistic team, which was led by Allen Ruiz. Then we have individual hairdressers as well, so it’s a real feast for the eyes, from an education and inspiration point of view. We combine that with experience by showcasing our latest innovations and techniques. We also have education and individual workshops. There’s something for people of all different levels, whether they are new to the industry or have been working for 30 years.
Last year, you collaborated with X-presion Creativos. Tell us about that and why collaborating with other artists is important to you.
The collaboration with X-presion was a real natural and organic evolution for me because I’ve worked with them for more than 10 years. We’ve been friends now for many years, even when X-presion wasn’t very well known—we were the first ones to bring X-presion to the stage back in 2012, when they were still young in London.
We both love hair and hair colour, so we started thinking of an idea. I came up with the idea of using a Japanese fashion designer’s looks as inspiration, and a recycled piece of hair from last Congress, and then we added it together and started creating with the new technique on top of it, and that’s how the collection came to life. We had an amazing time! We shot it in Madrid with my team. I’ve got a lot of friends in the fashion industry, so we shot with an incredible fashion director and an incredible fashion photographer, and now it’s winning awards!
Where do you find your creative inspiration?
I get my inspiration from all the people I work with, especially artists from all over the world. We all come into this industry for a reason—we have something we want to give or create— and it’s just so lovely when we all get together and create.
Why is mentorship important to you, and what else needs to be done to help grow the industry?
I’ve been in this game for 40 years plus, so it’s time for the next generation. A lot of the new ones don’t know where to start.
We have to make this industry attractive to the next generation. I come from a generation that used to go to the salon five or six days a week, starting at eight or nine in the morning. Now, it’s a different thing. Some want to work a couple of days a week or almost want clients to work around the hairdressers. We need to help them see the opportunities. And that’s why the awards are so important: because everyone wants to win an award and be on stage. But what does it take to do that? You have to have a good base to start from. You have to be a great artist, but you can’t just win awards and not do the rest of the work. You won’t get the respect from the rest of the industry. It’s a balance of both. If you can make a good living as a hair artist, I think that’s also going to help, and maybe we need to expose that a little bit more. I’m not sure if the next generation realizes how much of a good living they can earn, but at the end of the day, it’s not just about the money; it’s about having the passion to do it. It takes a lot of time and hard work, so if your heart’s not in it, you’re not going to survive.
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