LONDON: In a quiet street in south London’s trendy Brixton district, known for its ethnic diversity, 25-year-old Kristian Robertson parks his trailblazing mobile salon.
For a little over a year, he has worked for Trim-It — a start-up offering haircuts for people with Afro-Caribbean roots.
Opening the customised van’s sliding door reveals a silver barber’s chair, a large mirror, a hair dryer and drawers overflowing with scissors, clippers and hair products.
As he carefully prepared his equipment for the day’s first customer, the meticulously groomed Robertson said clients are “always amazed” when they see what is inside.
“Appearance is important, whenever you wanna go somewhere or even if you just wanna feel better about yourself, you get a haircut and it changes your whole day, changes your whole week even,” said Micah Henry, 24, one of Robertson’s ten-odd daily customers.
Henry, who uses Trim-It about once a month, said it was the “most convenient” hairdresser he had come across.
Appointments are made via a mobile phone app, summoning a van to where the client is.
The start-up’s founder, 24-year-old Darren TenQur’ang, said the intimate setting of a van helped forge close relationships between hairdressers and their clients.
“The relationship that you have with your barber is a very special one and I feel like this barber shop actually intensifies that because it’s so one-on-one so you can use your barber as a therapist,” he told AFP.
“You can talk to him about everything from your girlfriend issues to football to business.”
Born to Ghanaian parents, TenQur’ang was accustomed as a boy to visiting Brixton’s barber shops regularly with his father.
He said the business idea came to him after enduring many long waits.
TenQur’ang now wants to offer a faster service more adapted to the lifestyles of young people.
“We thought it was a good idea to put a barber shop in the back of a van and for an app to be able to book a barber shop to a location,” he said.
“For us, it’s all about making sure that the service is completely convenient and we sprinkle a little bit of premium (treatment) as well.”
The first van launched in February 2018 and the start-up now employs nine people and boasts five mobile salons covering most of London.
“I am just really surprised at how much it has actually taken off,” said the young entrepreneur.
“We’re definitely going to try to conquer London but our goal is to actually just take over the whole of the UK and thereafter, as everybody is saying, world domination!“
Mobile barber cuts a dash with Afro-Caribbean Londoners
Mobile barber cuts a dash with Afro-Caribbean Londoners
- Opening the customised van’s sliding door reveals a silver barber’s chair, a large mirror, a hair dryer and drawers overflowing with scissors, clippers and hair products
- Appointments are made via a mobile phone app, summoning a van to where the client is
Who will triumph at the BAFTAs? ‘Hamnet’ has the home advantage
- ’Hamnet’ favored for BAFTA best film award
- ’One Battle After Another’ will pose strong challenge
LONDON:“Hamnet” could edge ahead of “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners” to win the top prize at the BAFTAs, as the heartbreaker about Shakespeare, his wife Agnes and the death of their son is likely to win over British voters, experts said.
Action-packed dark comedy “One Battle After Another,” directed by US filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, leads the field with 14 nominations ahead of Sunday’s ceremony, followed by vampire thriller “Sinners,” which has received the most nods for next month’s Oscars.
But “Hamnet,” directed by previous Oscar winner Chloe Zhao and based on the novel by Maggie O’Farrell, is the bookmakers’ favorite to take the best film award at the BAFTAs.
“I think it’s going to be about ‘Hamnet’,” said Tim Richards, founder and chief executive of Vue cinema group.
“’One Battle After Another’ is another extraordinary film, but ‘Hamnet’ ... just feels like the kind of movie that BAFTA will go for.”
The 79th British Academy Film Awards will be held in London on Sunday evening, hosted by Scottish actor, TV presenter and director Alan Cumming.
CHLOE ZHAO VERSUS PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON
Ian Sandwell, movies editor at Digital Spy, said BAFTA loved to recognize its own.
“So I wouldn’t be surprised to see (’Hamnet’) walk away with best film and maybe even Chloe Zhao challenging Paul Thomas Anderson in director as well, and then the acting awards,” he said.
Richards said if “Hamnet” wins best film, Anderson could receive best director, or vice versa, as BAFTA divides the top awards between “two extraordinary films.”
For leading actress, Jessie Buckley is a shoo-in for her performance as Shakespeare’s wife, according to bookmakers.
Leading actor is harder to call, with Timothee Chalamet vying with Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan for their respective performances in “One Battle After Another” and “Sinners.”
Sandwell said Chalamet had been picking up awards, including a Golden Globe, in the run-up to the BAFTAs for the table-tennis movie “Marty Supreme.” “It would be his first (BAFTA), so it probably will happen,” he said.
But Sandwell said he would love to see Robert Aramayo walk away with the prize for his acclaimed performance as Tourette syndrome campaigner John Davidson in “I Swear.”
“Sometimes BAFTAs throw out a surprise in these leading actor categories to give it to a local lad, and it would be absolutely brilliant to see him win on the night,” he said.
In the supporting acting categories, the race is open but bookmakers currently favor Stellan Skarsgard and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas from Norwegian family drama “Sentimental Value.”
One notable movie — “KPop Demon Hunters” — is not nominated because it did not have a theatrical release in Britain before it was available to stream on Netflix.
But the singing stars of the animated feature will perform their global hit “Golden” at the awards.
