The third and most recent CRISP barbershop is located in a 750 square foot space in The Village. Although the footprint of the shop is elongated, its longest façade holds a series of vast windows facing Ontario Street, exposing the interior to everyone walking or driving by. Before the group of barbers moved in, the space was already home to a hair salon. Even though the existing layout and general structure fitted its new occupation and helped reduce costs, it was crucial to give the place a completely new image and make it practically unrecognizable.
The largest intervention was inversing the colour palette. Where in the past the walls were all white and the floor and ceiling a contrasting black, the redesign focused the attention towards the barber stations rather than their environment. The floor was replaced by natural oak wood, matching the soothing light cream painted walls and ceiling. These tones provide an overall warm and welcoming context. In contrast, the stations were finished with a dark teal marmorino plaster. This heavily textured handmade finish puts the stations front and center with its movement and rich colour depth. The existing millwork of the stations was also altered in form. Cream painted steel shelves and subtle columns were added between each mirror to emphasize the individuality of each station.
For the benches and service counter, a one-of-a-kind product was developed with the artisan plasterer Joey Di Venosa. The custom made two-tone micro-cement material was strongly varnished to obtain the most durable finish, given the high-traffic function the furniture serves. On top, a slick cream colored steel sheet serves as the actual seating surface.
Although the new barbershop is of modest scale, it holds a truly unique identity that contrasts its predecessors’, while yet again putting forward the owners’ desire to offer their clients and local community a forward thinking space.
Team:
Design + Architecture: Ivy
Team: Gabrielle Rousseau + David Kirouac + Guillaume B. Riel + Philip Staszewski
Construction: Groupe Hemera
Furniture Design: Ivy + Venosa Interiors
Photos : Alex Lesage
