New look for clay hair salon in oxshott

Clay Hair Salon recently celebrated its third anniversary with a stylish refurbishment and re-brand. Set in the affluent village of Oxshott, Surrey, in the heart of London's stockbroker belt, the salon attracts a cosmopolitan clientele. "We've always been popular with ladies who lunch, and now their husbands and children are becoming regulars too. We wanted to reflect this in the look and future direction of the business," explains owner James Davis.

"I knew we needed more styling chairs, but at the same time I wanted to also create more space. As you expand it's important it never feels crowded. I spent many months visualising every facet of the salon's reinvention. I wanted to create a striking brand identity and I believe with the black and gold colours, font and logo we've something special to build on: a form of strength and class that's exactly the stamp for Clay."

All the rooms within the salon are separate entities: reception, salon, gallery and ritual room. Each promotes Clay's 'Experience the Difference' ethos. The new signature look extends to 3D gold wallpaper and other opulent touches with an exotic influence. The new reception desk has been handmade by carpenters and wrapped in a black metal sheet with the new gold 'C' logo foil blocked on the front. The seating area accommodates eight people. The salon's fun and upbeat, while the ritual room is very tranquil with Chesterfield wingback chairs, a hand-painted Buddha on the feature wall, and inspirational quotes on the ceiling.

I did, alongside my managers James Overton and Jo Berry. We commissioned Matthew Strange Designs to do the computer aided design (CAD) drawings and 3D visuals. Matthew worked on the previous design for the salon. He gets my vision and helps bring it to life. Recently I've spent a lot of time in the Middle East on business and I saw a lot of black and gold tones out there, which I loved. 

The recent refurbishment took 12 days. The whole front half of the shop was pulled down and rebuilt. Our clients and team couldn't believe it was possible in that time. We relocated the coffee lounge area to the rear of the building; the client lounge and reception were both put to the opposite side and new partition walls erected. This has allowed us to incorporate 12 styling chairs where previously there were nine, but with the new layout we've more space between the chairs so it doesn't feel squeezed for the stylists.

Yes, we had new low energy Phillips GU10 lights installed and a whiter bulb to give a more natural light. We've significantly increased the number of downlights, giving an honest tone to all colour work. We also placed windows into the partition wall to channel more natural light into the building. Plumbing was required for the coffee lounge area and also the additional washbasin in the backwash area.