Chair barbershop interior, Toronto, eight chairs symmetric with gold chandelier

Case 03 / 03 Identity & Operations Toronto · 2017–2020

Chair

The brief

Fifteen years cutting hair. Ten in other people's shops. Then I built my own.

In 2017 I opened Chair, an eight-chair barbershop in Toronto. Three years operating, profitable exit in 2020. Seventy-five thousand haircuts across the full run. Brand identity, signage, customer flow, hiring, training, and the room itself, all shaped from years inside the chair.

15
Years cutting hair
10
In other people's shops
75,000+
Haircuts
2017
Opened Chair · 8 chairs · Toronto

The build

From someone else's chair to my own room.

A decade learning the room, the renovation, then the finished shop. Three frames are enough.

Brando in the early years cutting hair in another barber's shop
01·Someone else's chair
Chair renovation, drywall and crew, the build
02·Build-out, 2017
Chair barbershop interior, Toronto, eight chairs symmetric with gold chandelier
03·Eight-chair room

The crew

Eight chairs, the people who filled them.

The shop earned a team that earned the room.

The Chair team posed in the shop, all in CHAIR-branded tees

The chair list

Daniel Caesar to the Blue Jays.

Clientele included Daniel Caesar, Toronto Blue Jays players, and top music producers. House calls when the studio called. Grammys and Junos through client work. The shop earned the room; the room earned the chair list.

Cutting Daniel Caesar·Toronto·Chair

Production years

The craft became content.

Before the case studies, there were years of shop-floor videos, client work, house calls, and branded cuts. Click any frame to watch.

Shop floor·Production clip
Client service·Production clip
Close-up cut·Production clip
Premium barbering·Original file

Brand detail

The mark made it into the room.

Pins, tees, signage, and chair-side details turned the shop into more than a place to get cut.

Chair branded pins and keychains on marble
Pins / keychains·Chair mark
Interview·Chair story
"Ten years working out of other people's shops taught me what every barbershop gets wrong. The eleventh year, I opened mine."
Brando · Operator · Chair, Toronto
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