Italian hairdressing in London

Fancy that! About 20 hairdresser from Rome come for one day to London to get inspired and do brandnew haircuts. What an energetic atmosphere! Gaetano Di Gangi came to the flagship salon of the award winning hairdresser HOB Camden – a hub of creativity for Gaetano, a true master of his craft who trains other masters in improving their skills and who still is delighted what there is new to get.

Gaetano, in this moment we can hear italian, heated discussion from almost any place the room - do you know all of the hairdressers here?

Just some of them, we all come from Rome and work with the same product company z.one, one of italian’s leaders in hair products. All the guys here have their own hairdresser salons like I have a creative and passionated team at Sagaro Parrucchieri which I founded with my dad and my brother. That’s the reason for the name of our salon: SAnto, GAetano, ROsario.

Fantastico, an italian family business. Are you from Rome?

I was born at Neheim in Germany, but I moved with my parents to Rom in 1985. I love the italian lifestyle, the warm, welcoming people who love to relax, celebrate and socialise with family and friends. Italians have a passion for eating but also for talking. The conversation is an art form and often kind of entertainment is part of the job.

Good if you can handle that. Do you meet a lot of celebrities in your business?

Yes, especially because I’m working for television as well. At the talkshows or nightshows on channel Rai I met famous people like Milly Carlucci, Alessandra Amoroso, Nancy Brilly, Maurizio Costanzo, Gialuca Grignani, Lola Ponze. I love the diversity of all these humans.

Why is it London you came today?

There is absolutely no question about it: London is the place to come if you want to find out what’s up. In Italy we’re quite romantic in our style. Here it’s more punk – I like the transgression. I have an enthusiasm for the variety of hairdressing and the desire to know the trends.

So what’s up in 2011?

The inspiration is coming by nature: the cuts and colours find their matching part. For example we are using brown and violet tones together, because you never find just one colour in nature.

What is your own particular favourite hairstyle of all time?

Asymmetric cuts with strong lines and sharp, with both rockabilly hairstyles or plate.

photos: Sagaro | Fabrice Lachant | Swantje Diepenhorst