After many years trading in leased premised in Joondalup, East Perth and Subiaco, finding a solon space they could purchase outright and truly call ‘their own’ was a long time goal for Theory for Hair salon owners Carmel and Dave Lee.

Years spent looking for the ‘right’ location a commercial space finally eventuated in 2013, with a 120 sqm empty shell at the base of AXIOM apartment complex on the corner of Hay And Thomas St, West Perth – only a short distance from their previous Hay St, Subiaco address.

With its slightly elevated position and expanse of ‘cafe’ windows’ the premises had an abundance of natural light that was high on the priority list for award winning colourist Carmel.
“Specialising in colour correction, it’s so important to have natural light. Most shopping centre salons have no natural light at all which n=makes it extremely difficult as a colourist to accurately assess hair colour. /this salon has so much natural light that we could easily continue to work even if the power was out.”

“The other things I love about the openness of this space…” -continue Carmel,”is that we experience what is going on outside – we can see the sun shining or the rain pouring down. We engage with the street, and the people walking by, and the garden space that we have access to which is quite unique on a busy city street.”

Aside from the natural light, being a new building the blank canvas provided just the right elements to create the vision Carmel and Dave had in mind.
“We had been looking for a space right from the onset that had an industrial feel.” admits Carmel. “I had an idea that would like to contrast this with other elements that would add glamour to the salon and create a kind of balance between a masculine and feminine feel, that would appeal to all our clients.

The ‘industrial look’ was achieved largely by Carmel’s design ideas and refusal to add a traditional ceiling. The exposed concrete ceiling and aluminum tracking, complete with air conditioning unit pipework was instead left exposed, requiring considerable work to enable the tradesman to hang the 14 chandeliers that adorn the salon.