Off to rome to party with l'oreal - andrew barton

This weekend I'm off to Rome for a sell-out show. It is our first presentation of the Saks Indulgence collection for L'Oreal so it is all very exciting! The whole weekend should be a lot of fun, as L'Oreal are taking a group of hairdressers from England over to the Italian capital. It's a chance for them to get together, out of their own environment, and there will be a big party! Our Shows Director Tracey Gallagher is already out in Rome, preparing for the show and making sure that everything goes smoothly on the day. Tracey is like my left arm. She coordinates most of the shows and seminars we do and I don't know what I'd do without her. We've been working together for about six years and we have a strong creative bond. She really understands what I'm trying to achieve and sometimes she challenges me - which is invaluable. I don't have all the answers and sometimes you have to look at things with a fresh pair of eyes - I completely trust Tracey's so that makes life so much easier.It's nice to be going out to Italy as it is a bit of a home for our education distribution business. Members of the Art Team go there throughout the year and they have already presented over 200 days of education training across the country via the distribution business in 2007. We're also hoping to release news of an Italian Academy soon. I'll keep you posted... Franchising academies and education training systems is something we are now developing at Saks. Of course you can franchise salons, but in many ways it is just as easy to buy into an education process. All we need to do is make sure that the partner is the perfect person. Back home, our academy in Covent Garden is going through a bit of a fraught time because we've got the builders in. We've doubled the space of the academy and are having to remodel it to make room for the new students, but obviously we can't just stop our day-to-day business until they are finished, so we’re having to work around them. I'll be really pleased when the work is completed because the academy is like my home. It is the creative hub of our hair philosophy and it is where the soon-to-be expanding Art Team are based. We've started recruiting to for new members of the team and while we've already seen some talent I think that there is more out there waiting to come through. Joining the Saks Art Team is a fantastic opportunity for someone who wants to further their career and take the next step out of their current salon. A lot of companies say that they have an Art Team but only do a few shows a year. This is a full-time position with the Art Team. The people chosen will be based in the academy not the salon and will be travelling the world with Saks – it really is a life-changing opportunity.