Just recently crowned 2010 North American Hairstylist of the Year, Tony Ricci was born in Italy and raised in Edmonton. A graduate of Marvel College, he is the owner and founder of the highly successful Ricci Hair Company and has been working as a stylist for 18 years with training from Sassoon’s Academy in London, England and Los Angeles.

PHABRIK Magazine’s Executive and Creative Director Sandra Sing Fernandes spoke with Tony right after his
win. “I’m so impressed by Tony’s ability to create a total look and get a cover shot. I was so excited to interview him to understand his creative process being an artist myself.”

Tony Ricci’s mantra is “it’s never good enough”. He feels this helps with originality and keeps an artist on top of things internationally. “On the last day of my collection when I won, I was already thinking about my next collection.”
Tony is continually working towards excellence and is already working towards North American Hairstylist of the Year again for next season. His winning collection was themed “Cyber Vixens”. Tony and his team have won many awards prior to this including the Mirror Awards Canadian Hairdresser of the year twice, and the Contessa Alberta Hairstylist of the year, “I was always wondering if I was good enough to place as I had won the Canadian competition twice. I’ve always wanted to do it.”

For the last few years he has been focusing on inspirations from designers Yoshi Yamamoto, the late Alexander McQueen, and architecture. The North American Hair Stylist of the Year competition starts with 1200 competitors and works down to five. Then one winner is chosen. “I photographed the collection in Montreal and felt in order to win, all five photographs submitted had to be cover shots.” Tony finished shooting in Montreal and had come back to Edmonton but felt he only actually had three cover shots. So he decided to go back to Montreal and continued shooting until he had five completed cover shots. “I really loved shooting in Montreal as I was isolated from everyday business and could focus entirely on creativity for 3 days.”

Tony Ricci has developed a strong team of fifteen staff who are committed to his pursuit of excellence and creating cutting edge looks. “I have an amazing team and without them none of this would be possible.”

“In daily life as a hairdresser, I’m a craftsperson and create for my clients. I want my clients to walk out with something that works for them and that is personal to them, but for myself, as an artist, I’m looking for overall image and the wow factor – all the elements coming together – models, photographers, hair, makeup, etc.”

Congratulations to Tony Ricci on winning North American Hairdresser of the Year.