Davines Opens Flagship Salon in NYC
Brass lighting fixtures, rustic, reclaimed wood shelving units and a marble reception desk are featured in the light-flooded space.
The project started with New York City’s first green hair salon, ION Studio, located in the heart of NYC’s SoHo neighborhood and owned by celebrated editorial stylists Marco Santini and Leonardo Manetti. Marco and Leo had always used and loved Davines products. So when CEO of Davines North America, Anthony Molet, and North America Creative Director, Jorge Blanco, came to them with the idea to create a Davines flagship salon and education space—the first in the U.S.—the partnership instantly made sense.
“Aesthetically, what they do is very much aligned with what we do,” shares Leo. “The products themselves are great, and then obviously there’s the sustainability thing. I thought it was the perfect marriage.”
The feeling was mutual. “Davines has always been inspired by the work of Marco and Leo, and by their highly specialized team at ION,” says Anthony. “We developed a strong connection with ION as innovators of their craft and as educators for other stylists and colorists.”
Fallen oak trees from the owners’ upstate New York property were used to craft the styling stations.
The collaboration brought together not just two, but three like-minded businesses, each with a focus on the environment; each aesthetically sophisticated, eclectic and results-driven. The third organization in the equation is Brooklyn-based WRK, an architectural and design firm known for projects like Rag & Bone, Rudy’s Barbershop and Brass Monkey. WRK signed on to help overhaul the SoHo space which, upon completion was branded ION: Davines Salon + Atelier.
“Much of ION’s clientele is the downtown New York girl who can roll with the punches,” says WRK Co-Founder, Josh Farley. To reflect this client, Josh and Jeremy incorporated elements of rustic and modern; simple, yet sophisticated.
Sustainable Elegance
The entrance of the light-flooded space—previously an art gallery—features an Italian marble reception desk infused with reclaimed wood, custom-made brass lighting fixtures, shelving units made of old heart pine and styling stations hewn from fallen trees. (Fun fact: these trees come from Leo and Marco’s upstate New York property.) The lower level serves as the color floor and “open kitchen” of the space—complete with wood shelves, poured concrete, salvaged countertops and steel and brass accents. A large, reclaimed “farm” table on this floor was handcrafted to provide four color stations and contributes to the notion of community.
It’s a salon in every sense of the word.
The lower level of the sustainable concept salon features a color bar and is the “open kitchen” of the space.
“It was a project where we could be very free,” notes Josh. “[Davines’] sense of design and our sense of design are very similar—so we could do things that we normally don’t get to do.”
Educate, Recycle, Reuse
In the coming months, the salon will expand with a new education collective and professional salon academy, called ATELIER, offering continuing styling and color education led by Leo and Marco, as well as top Davines educators. The studio has also joined Green Circle Salons, an organization that provides a simple but powerful green strategy to reduce salons’ environmental footprint. As a member, ION will implement a recycling and reuse program for salon materials—including foils, color tubes, paper, plastics and liquid chemical waste.
For more information on ATELIER classes, call: 212-924-2470 x 31 or email education@davines.us.
