Hair salons across the globe are increasingly becoming aesthetic destinations in their own right, with designers leveraging striking materials, bold colours, and unique concepts to transform them from simple service locations into immersive experiential spaces. This collection of eight examples, spanning locations from Stockholm and Madrid to Osaka and Beijing, showcases interiors that are as meticulously curated as the styling they provide. Projects range from an industrial warehouse aesthetic featuring exposed concrete and steel to a space with a ceiling designed to resemble dripping shampoo using soft, organic pastels. The winning designs utilize unconventional elements like galvanized steel sound walls, copper tiles, and space-age curves to create environments that are both highly functional and deeply atmospheric, elevating the client experience well beyond the wash basin.
Industrial and Recycled Aesthetics
Several salons in this lookbook embrace a distinctly industrial or raw aesthetic, utilizing materials that are often exposed or repurposed to create a modern, high-contrast environment.
In London’s Borough Market, Salt Salon by Unknown Works is defined by metal. The space doubles as an events venue and features a unique sound wall made from repurposed galvanized steel. The studio incorporated recycled materials wherever possible, adding sheet-metal furniture and fittings to create a futuristic, utilitarian look. Similarly, in Osaka, Japan, Schemata Architects designed the LIM salon to evoke an industrial warehouse feel. They achieved this by leaving concrete columns and beams exposed throughout the space and using steel fixtures and mirrors hung on pulleys, resulting in an honest, stripped-back atmosphere.
Organic Forms and Pastel Hues
At the opposite end of the spectrum, other designers focused on creating spaces that are soft, welcoming, and inspired by organic shapes and gentle colour palettes.
The Maria Nila salon in Stockholm, designed by ASKA, is a vibrant example. Visitors are greeted by a surreal ceiling made from form-cut plexiglass designed to look like dripping shampoo, executed in soft pink, peach, and turquoise hues. The overall design features organic shapes inspired by nature, such as coral reefs and caves. In Barcelona, the Curly Lab by Miriam Barrio focuses on tactile and curvilinear design, with microcement flooring and terracotta-toned walls. The use of gleaming copper tiles and curved surfaces further underlines the salon’s warm, organic, and specialized focus on curly hair cuts and treatments.
Bold Colour and Conceptual Contrast
Colour is used as a powerful tool in several projects, not just for decoration but to define space, create contrast, and establish a memorable conceptual mood.
The Mood salon in Madrid, by Casa Antillón, makes a bold statement with mint-green ceilings that dramatically contrast with white brick walls and galvanized-steel details. The ceiling was sprayed with insulation foam to create a bumpy finish before being coloured green, a colour also applied to the support columns to accentuate the space’s longitudinal axis. In Beijing, the Ego Hair Salon and cosmetic spa, designed by IS Architecture and Design, took inspiration from space-age design. The interior features curved avocado-green walls and ceilings, aiming to create an environment that is “relaxing and cosy but at the same time vitalising and somehow surprising,” according to founder Fabrizio Gurrado.
Geometric Heritage and Pop Culture Nostalgia
Two distinct salons drew on specific historical or cultural movements to inform their unique aesthetic direction, resulting in highly themed and stylized interiors.
In Stockholm, Westblom Krasse Arkitektkontor transformed a century-old basement space into the Little Faktory salon. The minimalist interior was informed by the geometric designs of architect Carlo Scarpa and the muted colours of 1920s swimming baths. The renovation revealed the original textured concrete walls and exposed steel structure, decorated with circular mirrors and brightly coloured counters. Meanwhile, in Vancouver’s Chinatown, Studio Roslyn looked to 1980s Miami for the Qali hair salon. The design is characterized by candy-hued furniture and pronounced Art Deco features, complete with playful details like fringed wall and ceiling decorations to invoke a sense of retro glamour.
