As it turns out, for the past few months he's been hard at work designing a barber shop for his wife, Tania Van Spyk. The Crown Barber Shop, which had its grand opening in Guelph, Ontario this past Saturday, is a sleek homage to the traditional two-chair barber shop -- and fits perfectly into his general mission to remake the world around him.
Located at 219 Silvercreek Parkway in a suburban strip mall the monarchist-inspired shop (a portrait of Kind Edward VI hangs inside) is trademark Seth, as can be seen by the monocle-wearing cartoon king that adorns the front window.
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| According to Seth, he wanted to have a large king's head installed on the roof, but city by-laws prohibited it. Dang. |
Inside the two-chair shop is tasteful, crisp - and surprisingly modern. Just look at those globe hanging lamps and blue-and-white linoleum tiles.
And is that a custom-made King mascot figurine I see on the shelf?
Nice job refurbishing those old barber chairs, too.
The whole operation is a tasteful homage to the work-a-day, common-man barber shops that I used to go to with my Dad when I was a kid. Sophisticated, but welcoming: the perfect place to spend 15-20 minutes browsing ancient magazines (which raises a question: how old will the periodicals in this place actually be?)
Before I sign off, here's a shot of the space before Seth got his hands on it:
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| Uggggh!
If you're in Guelph, I encourage you to swing by and say Hi to Tania. She's a real swell gall who has been planning for this day for years and I wish her all the best with her new operation.
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2 comments:
Well, Guelph is "The Royal City", after all, so...
My childhood barber shop had, besides magazines, a big stack of old comic books and Sunday-funnies newspaper sections. Word to the wise.
A-ha -- The Royal City indeed.
I recall my childhood shop having all of that, and a stack of Playboy magazines (that were carefully stashed away in the broom closet).
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