ANTI's New Studio Space is Everything!

ANTI has opened a studio in London – a flexible space from Nick Irwin and Francesco Ruggerino to bring to life the ANTI brand and house their diverse creative community.

Located in a former railway arch in the heart of Brixton Village, the studio is the UK home of ANTI; a multi-purpose blank canvas for content creation, education, events, product testing and innovation – as well as salon facilities, with 16 sections, ultra-modern backwash units, and an enormous colour table. Within the arch is a cove for shooting, slick projection equipment for presentations and inspiration and room for hosting parties, courses and castings – oh, and a giant disco ball.

Nick and Franc were passionate about opening in Brixton due to the strong community spirit of the area – something they aim to echo with their open-door policy for stylists and brands looking to use the space. Nick, who lives in the area, said:

We want to be part of the community. Brixton and its people, values and beliefs fit with the ANTI brand and the collaborative approach we take.

With its floor-to-ceiling windows, the studio celebrates the theatre of hairdressing and opens up the closed doors of the wider fashion industry – something which the team hopes will attract local talent and build on the sense of community. As the hub of all things ANTI, the versatile workspace will house education, as well as product development. Franc explains:

We want to involve hairdressers in the whole brand. It’s not about hiding away what we’re doing. We like to think of it as an artisan workshop for ANTI where we can do live testing on real clients.

This desire to put the products in the hands of hairdressers and clients led to the development of a Prema salon within the studio. This will allow stylists to see clients – creating real ‘anti’ hair on real people – and bring the brand into the community, while still maintaining the feel of a flexible, creative space. As well as providing a London home for the brand, the ANTI studio will also be a collaborative creative space for use by fellow hairdressers and professional brands, as well as Nick and Franc’s wider network of session stylists, designers, makeup artists and photographers looking for a space to work out of.

Finally, the multi-purpose space contains everything required for content creation, with a cove, lighting and facilities for shooting, filming and social media production. While this will be available to anyone using the studio, two days per week will also be set aside for creative projects – be that fashion shoots, education or fittings and testing for shows; something which has already been happening during London Fashion Week Men’s.