Hj exclusive interview: angelo seminara's new partnership with goldwell

Following the announcement that Angelo Seminara has joined Goldwell and Kao Salon Division as Goldwell's new global ambassador, HJ's editor Laura Husband was invited to interview Angelo Seminara and Kao Salon Division's creative director John Moroney about the new partnership.

How did Angelo Seminara's new partnership with Goldwell come about?

Angelo Seminara: Myself and John Moroney first met at a hair show a few years ago, however it was only when I was doing my personal collection (which I do once or twice a year) that I tried Goldwell's Elumen direct dye range and I fell in love with it. I wanted to do something with bright colours that would be shot in the dark in Iceland. I realised I’d need to have some strong colours, tones and patterns so I asked my assistant to find some and he came back with Goldwell Elumen. As soon as I tried it and saw the vibrancy and application – I loved it! After that, I got in touch with John and asked to see Goldwell's HQ in Germany. The team gave me so much information – I learned about the history of the brand  and I was really impressed!

What do you hope to gain from Angelo Seminara's new partnership with Goldwell?

Angelo Seminara: I love developing new ideas and sharing my experience, knowledge and passion with my colleagues. For me it’s not about a business decision, it’s about being able to share and collaborate with new people as otherwise life would be so boring. I sometimes find it hard to find people who think like me but I’m looking forward to working with the Goldwell team – there’s a real sense community and family within the company. I'm excited to collaborate with the R&D department and I'd like to help Goldwell create new products and take Goldwell to the next level and provide a different approach with a new aesthetic within the hair industry. John Moroney: Angelo Seminara's new partnership with Goldwell is everything a brand dreams about. We’re confident in how our products and how they perform but we’re very excited about being able to share Goldwell’s innovation and technology with Angelo who is an iconic hairdresser and a wider audience. For us it’s a real win-win and for our side it helps to bring in a fresh perspective and a breath of fresh air who will look at our R&D formulations in a different way and shake things up. We want to see how we can continue to evolve our products and services and visual imagery in a whole new way. I’m really excited to see what he’s going to come up with using Goldwell Elumen and Pure Pigments.

Do you think lockdown and coronavirus has sparked a new era for hairdressing, colouring and styling?

Angelo Seminara: What doesn’t break you makes you stronger is how I feel about hairdressing right now. I’m very sad about all the salons that have had to close and I’ve been thinking about how we can help them. I wonder if two struggling salons could join together or a struggling salon could partner with a salon close-by. There's been a lot of sadness as a lot of people have lost their businesses and I believe the only way to recuperate those clients is to work together collaboratively. It would be a solution and it’s better to talk about solutions as opposed to problems. I personally don’t have a salon but I work on clients in the Ena Salon in London's Covent Garden. On the positive side, I believe lockdown has made people much more skilled as they’ve had time to perfect their skills and they’ve been inspired by online education. It's also forced lots of hairdressers to go in front of the camera and it's boosted their confidence when they've been able to do it. John Moroney: We have a Goldwell stylist group with 8,000 members and during lockdown crisis group really worked together to support each other. It was amazing to see salons supporting each other. There were salons that continued to do retail sales and helping clients with advice on home hair colour and there was a wonderful sharing of ideas of wisdom and advice. The industry was terrified about not being able to operate for the first few weeks but I noticed that when everyone started observing and taking part in creative education the mood raised and people became more solution-oriented and they joined the conversation and didn’t just watch from the side lines. I believe the conversation is stronger now between stylists following lockdown as they’ve had three months of sharing and caring for one another. We've found our whole campaign of creativity never stops is what will get us through the whole of this crisis!

A lot of hairdressing salons are struggling to find staff at the moment so how do you inspire people to come into the salon? You need to do something different!

What do you predict will be the biggest colour and cutting trends over the next few months?

Angelo Seminara: I see balayage everywhere and it’s one of the services that’s been well received by the client base and it’s super commercial but I also think clients want something different. I believe textured colours will the big trend in future. We’re not going to show it straightaway in my first collection as the full background story needs to be explained but we’ll be showing that you can do something really different with the colour. It doesn’t have to be crazy avant-garde – it will be something for teenagers to tap into as well which is key because these are the generation we need to attract into the salons and to talk about hairdressing. A lot of hairdressing salons are struggling to find staff at the moment so how do you inspire people to come into the salon? You need to do something different!

How will Goldwell salons be able to tap into Angelo Seminara's creative energy as part of this new partnership with Goldwell?

John Moroney: As part of Angelo Seminara's partnership with Goldwell we're exploring a number of different ways to put Angelo in conversation with the Kao Salon Division family. The release of Angelo's Nocturnal collection, which is his first foray using Goldwell Elumen with us and he’s about to shoot a collection for our virtual event in October too. We want to maximise a conversation through social media as well. One of the things we’ve thought about is how can we go behind the scenes with Angelo and see Angelo the artist? In light of the creative awards we’re going to launch next year – we feel it will be an inspiration for Angelo to talk about what it's like to execute a collection from start to finish. How can we do something that’s not a photo competition and you’re not competing to win – you’re participating to be part of the process. It’s going to be very exciting!

Where do you go for inspiration and what’s inspiring you most at the moment?

Angelo Seminara: I look for inspiration in the things that are right in front of me. I have my ways of looking at things and I find inspiration everywhere – I can get influenced by anything everywhere. What I like to do is try to experiment and find new ways of moving forward in general. I get inspiration from the music world, nature and the trees and plants I have in Italy – I give them names and talk to them. Inspiration comes from everywhere and it’s about translating your inspiration into a reality. I love looking at fashion and what the designer wants. It's interesting with fashion and design as sometimes it is ahead of its time and you have to put it to the side and wait for it to become vintage before everyone else fully understands and appreciates it. John Moroney: Last year we were talking about trend predictions and we were set to launch the Goldwell creative experience in Amsterdam – we did all of our photoshoots in February but it’s interesting to see what we were talking about last year and how we’re feeling now. We’re looking for short term inspiration for how culture and society have reacted to this crisis and there’s a focus on what’s the most essential things right now. It’s been interesting to watch how fashion has reacted to this and many fashion houses and brands have changed their direction on where they’re going. That’s the thing that’s on our minds the most – how we’re recovering from this and anything we create now has to fit this new normal and new reality. The salon industry has fundamentally changed so we have to be responsive to that as well. We have to look at what is the direction of the hairdressing industry for the future and how to create within the new normal.

What are the challenges facing the hairdressing industry at the moment?

John Moroney: The most important thing we can do right now is to be there for our stylists and salons. We don’t know how long individual governments will enforce health and safety guidelines for hair salons. The best thing we can do is stay responsive to our stylist and salon needs. If they need services that are faster or products that work within the new reality we'll develop them as we don’t have the luxury of triple-booking clients or having multiple clients at once at the moment. Angelo Seminara: I believe the past few months have given our environment an incredible detox from pollution. When we do hair shows and events we fly around the world and we spend a lot of time travelling and in hotels but it's not great for the environment. Three years ago I did a show that was more like a film, which meant people in the middle of nowhere could watch it and see what was happening up close. You can still go to a local cinema and spend an evening together watching the show without all of the unnecessary pollution. It’s giving us the opportunity to look at things from a different perspective. Of course, hairdressers love gathering, drinking, partying together and networking – if we don’t have that it would become very boring. On the plus side, lockdown has has had a positive impact on all of us – it’s slowed everything down and we can see grasses and birds coming into the garden and I believe everything happens for a reason.

What collaborative innovation can we expect to see between Angelo and Goldwell?

John Moroney: We took Angelo on a tour of our R&D lab and it was like watching a kid in a candy store. There’s a lot of innovations and tools that Angelo has created over the course of his career and one of the collaborations we’re excited about is being a worldwide distribution partner for Angelo Seminara’s tools which means he can continue to create his innovations with us. Angelo Seminara: I’ll announce at the beginning of next year an innovation that I’m super proud about that could go into every university studying hair,  fashion and textiles. It’s something that’s always existed but it’s never been put in place. It’s something that we’ll be developing in future and it will make the lives of all colourists and stylists in the world easier and ensure clients always get the same results! Watch this space...