Aki Watanabe
Aki Watanabe comes from three generations of hairdressers. After working in various Tokyo salons for four years, Aki went to Sydney at the age of 22 because of his desire to work and socialize in English. He worked in a salon for 12 months and with English firmly in his command, in 1989, he moved on to London where he undertook courses at the most prestigious hairdressing academies: Vidal Sassoon, Toni & Guy and London Hair Academy.
In 1990, Aki joined the famous Windle Salon in Covent Garden and quickly worked his way up to top stylist, alongside some famous names in hairdressing:-
EPaul Windle
EEugene Soulieman
EDavid Adams
EJohnnie Spong
Aki became a successful member of the team and introduced the skill of Shiatsu-head massage techniques-as an integral part of the salon services.
Publicity has been achieved through editorials in magazines such as The Face, I.D, Sky, also fashion shows including one for Red or Dead, and appearance in a 30 minutes television program called "The Green Life Guard"-a make-over program using only environmentally friendly products. Additionally, some of Aki's clients included Howard Jones, David Stuart, and Kim Wild..
In 1992, with this wealth of experience behind him, Aki decided to go to N.Y. to expand his creative vision by attending courses in make-up and photography.
Aki returned to Japan in 1993 to open his first salon, "Watanabe HAIR DRESSING" in Ebisu central Tokyo. He soon discovered a market for foreigners resident in Japan, and specialized in cuts and colours familiar to the home country using products imported from London, but still rare in Japan at that time.
His clientele outgrew the salon and Aki had no choice but to double the size of his staff and salon, and move to it's current location in the trend setting district of Harajuku in Tokyo.
Since moving, his team has worked on collaborations with the British Embassy for British Hot Wave in which Aki's team did the hair and make-up for the whole show featuring Burro, Andrew o' Toole, Maria Grachvogel, Conscious, Belinda Robertson, Sonja Nuttall & Timothy Everest. Other workings include those for: Yohji Yamamoto Collection; Nike Commercial; Ford Commercial; North West Airlines Commercial; Takeshi Kitano and Issey Miyake.
Aki's team was also responsible for 3 successful hair shows in Tokyo which included the world's top hair and make-up personalities Eugene Soulieman and Lisa Butller with over 600 people attending, firmly putting Aki Watanabe Salon amongst the top hair salons in Japan and the rest of Asia.