The ‘Light Forest’ salon — Yusaf Hair Studio — is among Vancouver’s premiere salons, serving a growing list of local and international clientele. The organizational concept for the new studio is an open plan; minimizing back of house areas and maximizing the customer experience in a compact studio environment.
The project’s Vancouver-based designers, Arno Matis Architecture (AMA), introduced a totemic lighting element into the space to simultaneously animate and energize the cubic volume. The ‘bamboo chandelier’ in polished metal rises up from the floor rather than dropping down from the ceiling. LED strip lighting is introduced as banding along the seemingly randomly spaced bamboo light tubes; the collection of which form an organic light-art forest.
Boasting responsive mirror lighting, the central mirror features bamboo-like cuts; angled to soften the reflective wall. Throughout the space, angled LED mirror lights can also be adjusted remotely from warm to cool lighting depending on time of year, as well as exterior lighting conditions, to ensure accuracy when stylists are colouring hair.
Flooring — provided by Mapei Ultratop — is a polished white concrete micro-topping and wall finishes are in mirror and silver-backed acrylic. Tilted floor-to-ceiling light wall also includes shelving for showcasing product. The composition is intended as a reflective, dreamlike escape.
Completed in early 2017, the 1,200 square foot space is located in a new development on Vancouver’s Cambie Street, just north of 49th Avenue. The Light Forest Hair Studio also features bamboo metalwork by Artemesia, as well as an LED studio lighting program by Lightform, and doors by Glass Italia.
Photography be Michael Elkan.
