Bearing effortlessly styled locks, a broad smile and a keen business sense, Vasken Demirjian paused mid-coloring to share the trials and tribulations of sustaining his flagship salon at the Trump Tower high-rise in downtown White Plains.
“In terms of their spending on their beauty, my clients are all very aesthetically conscious and they are very discerning,” he said. “But even discerning people are cutting back. It”™s normal. And I”™d be lying if I said I”™m flying high.”
Hopping up mid-interview in his Kérastase colorist apron, Demirjian softly asks a staffer to “mix me the low lights.”
“I”™m sorry about that,” he says. “I am a working owner and I multitask as you can see.”
For the certified master colorist, the estimated $1 million investment was all in the concept.
“I needed to create a salon that met all of the expectations of a colorist”™s ideals,” he said. “When I first embarked on this project as a colorist, I had been all over the world from my previous business in antiquities as an art dealer, so I got to see so many other things in life that many hair colorists and hair dressers don”™t have the opportunity to do so. I became a very good aesthetic judge on many different layers and not just in the hair.”
By September, Demirjian will begin to bring a replica of his two-year-old luxury, boutique salon concept to Manhattan.
Katerina Soukhopalov-Demirjian, salon designer (and Vasken”™s wife) and partner at MSK Design Group in Manhattan, said it “had to be a space that not only delivered the correct and ultimate environment for luxury and artistic services performed there, but also a clear representation of the owner”™s vision for his first eponymous salon.
“The salon had to symbolize our beliefs that art and design must transcend through all: fashion, lifestyle, service and, of course, the art of hairdressing, particularly hair color,” she said. “Therefore, it was important to design the salon to be a perfect platform for its artists to do their work. It is simple and elegant, clean and bright and in no way a distraction, but rather an unforgiving, confident background.”
Having traded antiquities ”“ he also has done archaeological work ”“ for the business of beauty, Demirjian said, “Quite frankly, the economy really hampered my progress, but as far as my projections and ideas, they are still very dormant but I think in due time, everything will fall into place.
“I think the world is a very small place,” he said. “I want to be a global brand and I”™m going to start right here in Westchester.”
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Salon survival
The Professional Beauty Association reported the industry accounted for $56 billion in sales in North America in 2008. Last year, it reported that salons expressed a need to adapt to consumers”™ changing spending habits.
Lisa Roina, owner of two-year-old upscale Salon 126 in New Canaan, Conn., said, “We”™ve had a good year, but we definitely have been thinking of new ways to intrigue people. We introduced a blow-dry series, where if you buy five, you get one free and that”™s worked well for us.”
