Emiliano Vitale – E Salon
By Rob Kotevski October 1 2009
“Imagine the portrait of our life. We’re in charge of it. We wake up in the morning and life gives us a paintbrush and paints. Every day we get a different paintbrush and every day we get different colours.
“The biggest mistake most people make is they want a soft, fluffy brush and they want their favourite colour. When they haven’t got a soft fluffy brush and their favourite colour, they just turn around and say, ‘OK I can’t paint today, I’m just going to wait for my fluffy brush.’
“I tell my team, whatever brush you get and whatever colour you get, use that to paint the picture of your life and the day will come when you get whatever colours you want and whatever brushes you want.”
It is a sunny afternoon in the suburb of Wahroonga, on Sydney’s north shore. Wahroonga has a charming, old-school village feel to it. It is home to the E Salon where co-owner and manager, Emiliano Vitale chats happily to myhairdressersearch over a cup of coffee, in the salon’s outdoor seating area, overlooking the hustle and bustle of Wahroonga’s main street.
Lights, camera ... E Salon's Emiliano Vitale at Hair Expo.
“We’re all given the same tools. Most people make the mistake, not only do they sit there, not wanting to paint, waiting for their paints, they don’t even know what picture it is. So when we figure out the portrait of our lives, then we know to say, ‘OK, I’ve got black, I hate that colour. I have to use my hands today. That top left-hand corner of the portrait of my life has black …’ That’s how I try to teach my team. Every day that I’m alive and my picture’s not complete, I need to paint.”
Vitale speaks with such inspirational passion for his work, one can’t help but feel a warm stirring sense of pride while in his company. This is a man who practices what he preaches.
Just over nine years ago, Vitale’s father approached him with a proposal for a new salon’s location, in Wahroonga. Vitale was running a salon in Double Bay when he entered the new venture with his father.
One short year later, due to the success of the new E Salon, he closed the Double Bay salon and devoted his energy full time to the incredible success of the new workplace. The success of the E Salon is an important milestone his lifelong journey parallel to his career in hair.
“I started working when I was in fifth class. School holidays, Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. In the salon the whole time. I look back at that at and where I am now, and it’s just surreal. You walk into a room now and you’ve got people you once admired that are your peers and equals. My hero, Benny Tognini, is now treating me like an equal. That was amazing.
“There are three hairdressers that have taken our industry to the next level: Benny Tognini, Shane Henning [Noddy’s on King, Newtown] and Caterina Di Biase. What she’s doing is encapsulating a fashion image. It’s about doing something so different. Imagine what the portrait of her life is,” he beams.
"I actually like not winning because it's made me a better hairdresser. A more creative hairdresser. I have to keep trying. If I had won the first time, it would have gone to my head and I would have thought, 'What now?' "
To borrow a metaphor, when life knocks you off your horse, you just need to get back on and keep riding.
“I’ve been a finalist for NSW Hairdresser of the Year three times. I really thought this year I was going to win and I was really gutted when I didn’t win. But my collection was not the best.
"What this is doing is that each time I don’t win, I have to work harder. And I actually like not winning because it’s made me a better hairdresser. A more creative hairdresser. I have to keep trying. If I had won the first time, it would have gone to my head and I would have thought, ‘What now?’ ”
However, accolades are something the E Salon is definitely not short of. Vitale smiles like a proud dad when he tells myhairdressersearch about the impressive list of his team’s achievements.
Marc Mendicino won Men’s Hairdresser of the Year at the Australian Hair Fashion Awards. As well as delivering a groundbreaking collection titled ‘Vacuous’, Marc’s colleague Leah White was selected as one of ten to join the noted FAME team while still in her apprenticeship. Leah is joined by fellow E Salon apprentice Lisa Muscat on the FAME team. He couldn’t be prouder if these awards were his own.
“Seeing Lisa and the way she spoke at FAME, I remember telling her, have the courage to open yourself up and show the world your heart. When you do that, that’s when magic happens. There was a moment in her presentation when she was explaining what she did on her model. When most people talk about something, they take a step back. She stepped forward: This is who I am. That moment was like a star is born.
“I hate mediocrity. I shout and scream it from the rooftops. I’m in a position where I can influence young people to be what they dream about. I’m no different from anybody else. I have this saying that I joke with my cousin: We’re the wogs from the west. But our work is being published internationally. If I can do that, anyone can. It’s just about knowing that anything is possible and not settling for mediocrity.”
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