Space 2018

YOU’VE GOT
SOME FRONT
WHEN IS A HAIR SALON NOT A SALON? WHEN IT’S A GIANT PIECE
OF ART. SOLARIUM POINT IN KENT TRANSFORMS ITS SHOP FRONT
REGULARLY – IS THIS THE NEW WAY TO DRAW IN THE CROWDS?
You change your window display often and keep the
glass clean and the displays well-lit – all good stuff,
but as clients get more discerning, salons
are considering different ways to attract their
attention. None more so than Solarium Point
in Ramsgate, Kent. The goal was to “transcend and
transform every aspect of the traditional salon experience,
combining art, architecture and design with beauty and
hair”, salon owner Anna Baranowska explains. “I thought it
would be interesting for a client to enter the salon through
a piece of art.”
Anna decided it should be seasonal, changing the display
every six months and giving clients time to get used to
one display while generating excitement for what would
come next. At the moment the salon uses the same artist,
Heidi Mant, and the only brief the salon ever gives her is to
‘epitomise the current season’ and to ‘find a way to connect
the salon with the exterior’. “It has to interact with people and
draw them in,” explains Anna. “The artist usually sends us a
few drafts and we decide which one works best.”
Clients love the different approach and the salon has gained
new clients as a result. “It’s generated a lot of exposure and
more people come in to the salon to ask about our shop front
and our services.”
While the bright exterior drew people in, the salon
still wanted to be able to display retail. “The interior was
designed by AMB Design Studio and part of the design brief
was to come up with how our products could be viewed in
the window,” she says. The salon now has custom-designed
shelves in the window that complement the artwork.
32 | S P A C E