SALON FOCUS: The Lion & The Fox
With a name like The Lion & The Fox, you’d be forgiven for thinking another Gastro Pub had opened in London’s design hub of Clerkenwell. The reality couldn’t be more surprising.
Sharply designed and achingly cool, The Lion &The Fox is in fact a hair salon come gallery designed to reinvent the classic salon experience. The brainchild of Tim Pateman, an established session stylist and renowned photographer Leo Cackett (who’s shot campaigns for both Nike and Adidas), the salon is an amalgamation of passions, bringing together London’s hottest photographic and artistic works along side some of it’s most talented stylists and colourists.
Set over two floors, the interior is exactly what you would expect from an ‘achingly cool’ London salon, with exposed brickwork, wooden flooring and featured lighting for a feel that is both industrial and polished. What isn’t expected is it’s total lack of attitude…and that’s no bad thing.
Unlike many of its contemporaries, The Lion & The Fox is totally devoid of any of the hipsterish aloofness, which can be so off putting to anyone outside of Hackney. Instead customers are meet with a warm welcome and encouraged to relax with an alcoholic beverage (don’t worry, soft drinks are on offer) and a gossip while taking in Leo’s lasted photographic project.
Of course, stylish interiors and artwork are futile if the stylists can’t cut it (No pun intended) but Tim and his team do not let the side down. Using all natural Davines products (a personal fave), the salon offers an extensive range of services from a full cut and colour menu, to braid bar, fringe trims and every frizzy haired gals’ friend, the Brazilian blow-dry.
Which begs the question, how did The Lion & The Fox fare on my fair locks? Having spent the last month in Costa Rica, where, if truth be told, my mane was lucky to come within a whisper of a brush, I was in dire need of a restyle. So it’s only testimony to their sheer talent, that a mere 2 hours later I am wafting through Clerkenwell, freshly styled tresses bouncing with health and the proprietor of a new beautiful baby blonde ashy colour (trust me it’s a thing,) that months later, I’m still getting compliments on.
Now if only The Lion & The Fox could relocate to Wimbledon, so they can officially be my local.
For further information or to book an appointment at The Lion & The Fox visit. https://thelionandthefox.com
Do you know a salon with some surprising features? Share you favourites in the comments below.
