Scott started working in a barbershop near my salon and we got set up on a date. I thought, ‘Oh, I can just walk a different way to work if we don’t get on’, but that was seven years ago, and we haven’t been apart since! From there, the idea of setting up Kitch evolved very fast. We started looking at houses and realised the only way we could afford to buy one was to have our own business, and then it all kind of grew from there.
When you work together, good communication is the main thing. When I’m talking about work, I communicate in a very different way to, say, talking about going to dinner. There’s a fine line between managing the work side of things and the relationship side of things, but I think we’ve learned how to communicate well in both ways. Being clear on each other’s roles is very important; Scott and I very much have our roles and they’ve been there since the beginning.
You have to play to each other’s strengths and try not to overtake the other part. Scott is very loud and full of life. He has these vocal cords that just travel, and I still haven’t found the volume switch! But he’s also incredibly caring and gentle. We have the same values and we like doing the same things. We do everything together. The thing we’re most likely to fall out over is music – Scott is in charge of the playlists for the salon, and I feel like sometimes we’ll be playing Saturday night music on a Wednesday morning, and I have to say that this isn’t the right time or the right music for the salon.
Scott has a fantastic relationship with his clients, and he’s forced me to have a different view on the industry. I’ve been hairdressing a long time and it can be hard to break out of your mould, but I would say he’s reconnected me with the personal side of it. When Kitch won an award for Client Experience, it solidified everything that we’d been working towards; it meant that our hard work had been recognised and our ethos had beenacknowledged as well.
Soon after meeting Luca, we were already talking about how we wanted to get further in the industry and what we could do to get there. Luca is a doer! As soon as you hear the words ‘I’ve been thinking…’, you know you’re in for a ride. Luca is calm and very thoughtful, but he’s strong – almost stern! – when he needs to be too. We balance each other out really well. If there were two of us, it would be bonkers, it just wouldn’t work. We’re complete opposites, but we complement each other.
I work more on the brand side and Luca is the brains. Trying to do all the bits together just doesn’t work, and it was clear that Luca would take the reins on the business side from early on. We march to the beat of our own drum when it comes to creativity. Kitch is its own kind of trend, and we work hard not to do what everyone else is doing or what’s already been done. We’ve got our 1950s aesthetic, and we’ve put our own twist on things. I would have never done this on my own, so if I hadn’t met Luca this wouldn’t have happened.
It can be a challenge living together and working together. We do everything together! It’s not always easy trying to navigate that, but we make it work. We also have very similar tastes creatively and with aesthetics. Sometimes, if we haven’t got ready together, we’ll turn up at work wearing exactly the same clothes! We’ve been together for seven years and I suppose you do end up morphing into one.
I appreciate Luca’s drive to want more. I can be quite complacent, so I need that push. Luca can get a bit uptight at times, but then that’s what our balance is about – I help him chill and calm down a bit. A perfect day off would be doing absolutely nothing, maybe going for a little walk or a bike ride. We’re definitely looking to open another site and, depending on how that goes, maybe more in a few years. The goal is to grow the business and have a small collective of salons. Then, of course, lots of nice holidays – and maybe an early retirement!
Who’s the bigger perfectionist?
Luca.
Who’s the chattiest?
Scott.
Who takes longer to get ready for a night out?
Luca.
If you two weren’t in the hair industry, what’s another job you could imagine doing together?
Creating wedding flowers or running a flower shop.
If you had to describe your partnership in three words, what would they be?
Scott: Amazing, strenuous and lovely.
Luca: Strong, fun and A LOT!
