Alexey Osipchuk is a world-class hair stylist and founder of two beauty studios, Salon Park by Osipchuk in St. Petersburg. Hairstyling is his way of artistic expression, he creates ephemeral works of art with complex techniques and messages. We talked to Alexey about his career, the connection between art and hairdressing, and his latest workshop in New York.
I started my journey 20 years ago in a small Russian city called “Kaliningrad”. One day, I accidentally came across a magazine in which a hairdresser did something beautiful with hair backstage. It was at this moment I realized that this field was my calling, by also being able to create something for people and equally being of great help to society. After that I made a decision to be a hairstylist, by trying it out, going to a school that specializes in this sphere. Long story short, I just wanted to try this profession because it’s interesting, helpful to society and it’s fashion-related.
Around 8 years ago I opened two Beauty studios called Park by Osipchuk in Saint Petersburg and now I have an amazing team with almost 50 hairdressers.
Well, I would say our job is a part of art. Art is something that can affect society positively. If you create something that gives other people the opportunity to dream, think, create something, I think it could be called “art”. We just have to do everything possible so our job could be called art. You should think about hairstyles, colors, mood or shooting that could affect the lives of those in the society. You have to think about doing something interesting for other people. I just have to always be innovative. Because of this, I developed a course with uncommon hairstyles, views, images, hair shapes and designs.
Cleanliness, freedom of expression and diligence.
There’s a popular saying that goes like this “there is no way to happiness, happiness is the only way”. This phrase means a lot in my job. For me, the most important thing in our job is the path to your dreams, ideas, creativity, etc. I think the main thing is the way you want to follow.
As we know, we’re living in a very difficult time as a lot is happening in the world, I guess you understand what I mean. I think we have to learn to live correctly and also correctly get this information and equally analyze it. There’s a lot of forces around, and in us that want to get hold of our ideas. The idea was to portray this in our shootings and series and also to create interesting images that show and express our mood, the part was to show something that we’re able to create something interesting in our job. These shootings were like a balance between our job and real life. In terms of technical haircuts, interesting prints on hair like in newspapers and also different experiments on hair. Before the shooting, we figured out a very interesting method of printing texts, a part of newspapers, etc, and I hope it could be interesting for other hairdressers. In the end, our job is always about creating something new.
I have to say that every project was difficult, because when you try to do your best, create something interesting for people or something that could inspire other people, it requires a lot of work, thinking and sometimes sleepless nights to be able to achieve those things you picture in your mind. I have had a few projects where I worked with fake hair, extensions, different materials, etc. Using all these things takes a lot of effort and time just to produce something really cool and pleasing to people.
For example, a few years ago I worked in shooting in a neon room and the task was to find materials instead of natural hair because we had to create bright looks. And I guess we did it very well.
In my opinion, everyone should be taken as a star. I don’t think categorizing people into different classes is fair. I think we’re all equal no matter what. It’s important to give everyone your best and try to do everything beautifully and accurately for them. It’s really difficult for me to segregate.
Yes, I enjoyed everything about my workshop in New York. It was a very interesting experience where I was able to show my techniques of haircuts and hairstyles, inspire other people, and show people new shapes in hairstyles. I absolutely enjoyed New York to be honest, because I was able to do my own part and also get a lot of inspiration from other wonderful people who surrounded me. I would say the workshop I had was more like an exchange of knowledge. I taught and was taught. Of course, thanks to New York because it provides us with an amazing atmosphere with amazing people.
We’re currently preparing for the new season. There’re lots of plans and new interesting projects. I’m afraid I can’t let any information out for now because it’s confidential. I think you’d be amazed and impressed when you see the things we’re preparing for the upcoming season.
