Hair-raising design in Peter Mark's new home

A Dublin salon and training school combines conservation a cartoon-like decor, and swish white gloss

PARIS HAIRSTYLING is associated with tradition - chignons et al - while London is fashion central when it comes to coiffure but, says Jenny McDermott of Peter Mark, a good hairdresser needs to be able to master both, and that mix of old and wild is reflected in the company's new Dublin city training school and salon.

This building, on South William Street in the city's old markets area, used to be a bank before becoming a college which is what attracted Peter Mark to it when it came up for sale in 2004: the facilities they needed were already there. Yet the company has made extensive changes to the building which is divided to reflect different functions.

Upstairs is a training school where company staff can learn new skills, in either management or styling. A recent lesson had involved 'moulding' ie, filling a model's locks with 'product' and sculpting the hair, for those after the Josephine Baker look.

Such adventurousness was applied to the interior design of the salon on the ground floor which will be opening in a month's time. Staff joke about how they were colour blind on the day they designed it and that the vibrant decor reflects the wide design team: where people usually compromise it seems that here everyone's design ideas went in.

There are outsized giraffe-print panels on the ceiling, red chequered wall colouring hits a pink ceiling and white floor, a mirrored front desk is draped in bejewelled padding and the salon mirrors look as if they are cartoon-glasses off the set of a Disney film. Oh, and the toilet is lined with grass-print tiles and a large cow gazes out from an internally lit picture above the loo.

When this salon opens in October it will be staffed and patronised by those who are prepared to be more daring with their hair.

MD and chief executive Barry Dempsey says that while they used various consultants in the past, for instance with branding and business development, they realised that the remit was to push the company towards consistency and Peter Mark has broken out of that in recent salon signs, with every one being different.

"This is a creative industry," says McDermott, "and designers and architects should respond to the fact that people like working in and visiting well-designed buildings." Despite visits to salons worldwide for ideas, the design is new, "there is no existing model for this," says Dempsey.

The design team included Mark Keaveney who founded the company with his brother Peter 47 years ago, and Sean O'Neill, with Douglas Wallace Architects, Wink lighting. Architect Robin Mandal advised on best conservation practice.

While the original front part of the building was preserved (and the newer rear knocked and replaced with a white and glassy structure) it was bravely decided to paint the original arches and architraves in flamingo pink and white. It shows how you can respect tradition in the structure and materials and then play with colours (which can easily be undone).

In the training side of the building the colours in the communal areas come from a quieter heritage-happy palette of pale blues and white, while the actual training rooms are all shiny white, with glossy floor tiles, vast glassy 'white boards' and film screens, generous white basins and tall mirrors.

In one training room a low ceiling was carved into with the structural elements pretending to be suspended panels, giving the illusion of a high ceiling with low panels, rather than the reverse reality. On other floors offices have walls of glass that goes from clear to fuzzy when viewed at different angles. Glass doors hang from rails and slide open on rubber wheels.

However vibrant the decor, salon design is also concerned with practicalities such as where clients sit to await their heady revamp and how hair must never be in shadow when being dyed and dressed, hence the lighting from the front and above. The combination of such practicalities and flair are the key to good building design. Here a touch of humour was important to the company, as well as a sense of keeping up with the times and even setting the pace. "People are talking down the economy but this is about optimism and looking forward," says McDermott.