Janelle Chaplin: Canberra to Manhattan and beyond
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From Canberra to overseeing an empire with roots in Bondi and New York, Janelle Chaplin is—quite simply—killing it. Alison Seale gets the low down.
“There’s nothing you can’t do, now you’re in New York. These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New York, New York, New York,” sang Alicia Keys in the hit song, Empire State of Mind.
One Canberra creative took these words to heart and is singing from the same songsheet. Janelle Chaplin was born and raised in Canberra but always knew her obsession would take her places.
“I was always obsessed with hair. Obsessed. When I was a kid, I would watch the Oscars for the hair and pause it to copy the hairstyles onto a mannequin’s head in my Mum’s kitchen. There was nothing else I wanted to do,” says Janelle from her home in Brooklyn, New York.
“I left midway through college to do hairdressing. I had to beg my Dad to leave because he wanted me to finish college, so I worked during the day and did my HSC at night. I got much better grades by not being in a structured school environment,” she says.
Janelle Chaplin.
Janelle opened her first salon in Canberra at the age of 20, but the lure of the big city was too strong to resist, and London was calling. But first, a detour by way of Sydney, where she worked in a small salon with Jose Bryce-Smith, the founder of Original&Mineral.
Original&Mineral is a rapidly growing brand of organic hair products and colour that are based on natural products and free of ammonia and other chemical nasties.
“I worked with Jose for a while and then moved to London to work with Kevin Murphy, as one of his artistic directors. Jose made it very clear to Kevin that I was on loan and when she was ready to launch Original&Mineral, she was coming to get me, and seven years later she did,” says Janelle.
Janelle returned to Australia and lived in the basement of Jose’s Bondi house for two years, while they formulated the Original&Mineral product until they were confident it was time to launch the brand globally.
“We thought I could move to Los Angeles and launch from there, but I don’t drive. Who drives when someone can drive you? My manufacturer at the time was in New Jersey, but there was no way I was going to live in New Jersey. I went to New York and rented a tiny apartment in the West Village and launched the brand there.”
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Janelle became the Global Creative Director and oversaw the launch of the product into salons all over the world. However, Janelle quickly realised she needed a creative space where she could showcase Original&Mineral and where clients could try these natural products that wouldn’t harm their hair.
“Surprisingly, Americans are only now realising the benefits of organic hair products, and now they demand it. Jose and I decided to go into partnership with the salon, but the next challenge was to find a fabulous space. Just let me say that negotiating with landlords in New York is another New York story!” laughs Janelle.
After a potential site for the salon fell through, Janelle and her team visited a bar called the Brass Monkey in the trendy Meatpacking District to discuss their next plan of attack.
“I have a pretty loud mouth, and I have a lot of opinions on a lot of things. The bar owner, Shaun, overheard me and we started talking about space to rent, in particular a space he owned above the Brass Monkey,” says Janelle.
“I told him I had only been in America for a year so I had a low credit score but could give him three months’ deposit straight away. I’m Australian and I’m trustworthy. He agreed to give me the lease and we signed it that week. That’s how it works in New York. If we had gone through the formal channels, we wouldn’t have had the proven credentials, and it wouldn’t have happened.”
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The Original&Mineral flagship salon is uniquely designed. One of the more unusual elements is a large communal table where clients get their hair done—and no mirrors.
“The salon is a little bit like a speakeasy, the really cool salons in New York are not at street level. It literally looks like it could be someone’s apartment. People don’t like intimidating salons, and they don’t like sitting there looking at themselves.
We mix up the colour right in front of the clients, so everything is in the open. There’s no smell, there are no fumes. If I can call a hair colour delicious, this is it. The salon smells beautiful, like a luxury scented candle,” says Janelle.
The salon offers blow dries, cuts and colour and a barber service, using the Original&Mineral products with names like Surf Bomb Sea Salt Texture Spray, Rootalicious Root Lift and Hydrate and Conquer Shampoo.
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“I’ve kept my role as Global Creative Director and I do one or two days in the New York space but I also head up the academies, write all the training for new hairdressers and coordinate our shows for New York Fashion Week,” explains Janelle.
“When I look back and realise what the brand’s achieved, it’s phenomenal. Next year is going to be 10 years for me in New York. In that time I also married a man who was born in Manhattan and we have a son.
“It’s home to me now. But the last time I was in Canberra, I thought wow, Canberra’s cool. There are so many great restaurants and cool places,” she says.
Janelle’s aim is to keep building Original&Mineral with her team through the expansion of new products and salons, bringing the brand to a global mainstream audience.
The ultimate goal for this product, born in the basement of a Bondi home, is to be on the same level as the global giants such as L’Oreal and Schwarkzopf.
It’s a dream she firmly believes in. “Follow your dream because dreams do become reality. Don’t live in fear, if the universe is aligned, everything will happen for you, whether you’re in New York or Canberra. Don’t worry about everything being perfect first—because when you have a goal, it definitely does happen,” says Janelle.
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