The Outliers Issue 1

Amanda and Toby Dicker
The Chapel,
Royal Tunbridge Wells
@thechapelplace
A
school house, an old public
house, a church building. Even
before you set foot in one of
The Chapel’s five sites in the South East,
you’re aware its salons are unlike others.
And that was the goal from the beginning,
back in 2001. “We deliberately set out to
be different,” explains co-founder Toby
Dicker. “We identified the three key brand
values for us – Relaxation, Education and
Service. One of our business colleagues
at the time said: ‘If you put a T on the end
you have REST.’ Then the T became the
Tailored part of the experience.”
It was actually Amanda Dicker, cofounder
of The Chapel and Toby’s wife,
who came up with a new approach, thanks
to a glass of wine. Having been travelling
and then working in a wine bar, she would
sit and talk with women about their hair
over a chilled glass. It was sobering stuff.
“They were not really talking about hair,
they were talking about their experiences
in the salon. The bits they hated, the bits
that made them nervous, the bits that
prevented them from moving on with
colour or cuts,” she recalls. “I realised
I could open a salon that tackled these
problems and do something different.”
And so The Chapel today consistently
answers the prayers of its clients, and
its staff. With clients, it’s about having a
conversation rather than a consultation.
The products that creative team
work with needed to match that vibe,
that approach of doing things differently,
which is why the group selected Redken.
“I was looking for a product with
personality,” says Amanda. “Redken colour
is so clever – it allows natural tones to
come through with each individual hair.”
“We deliberately set
out to be different”
Toby Dicker
10 The Outliers