PINKY POON SUK LAI & TOBY NGUYEN LEAD THE LINE UP WITH A CREATIVE EDGE & INCLUSIVE SPACE THAT SETS THEM APART FROM OTHER STYLE MAKERS IN THE CITY. WE SIT DOWN WITH BOTH TO TALK ABOUT WHAT DRIVES THEIR PASSION, THEIR STYLE INSPIRATION AND HOW THEIR JOURNEY HAS LED TO THE CREATION OF &SPACE. , ONE OF THE MOST STYLISH, UNIQUE & INNOVATIVE HAIR STUDIOS IN HONG KONG.
Pinky Poon 和Toby Nguyen 用創意引領潮流，營造一個包容的空間使他們與城中其他的造型師們脫穎而出，別樹一格。我們一起坐下來淺談一下是什麼驅使他們的熱情、他們的造型靈感來源及如何促成了 &SPACE. 的創立，使他們成為一個在香港最時尚、獨特、最具創新精神之一的髮廊。
Hey guys, thanks for taking the time to chat and inviting us into your beautifully crafted space. Can you tell us a little bit about your background in hairstyling & barbering; your journey & how you ended up here?
Tobes: Long story short.
Pinky: I first?
Tobes: Yeah, you first.
Pinky: I’m Pinky. I’ve been in this industry for over ten years. I was originally in a [ladies] salon, before I moved to London for a few years, and I stopped cutting hair. Then, after I moved back to Hong Kong, I felt I wanted to focus on hair again. I met quite a lot of people talking about, like, men’s style, short hair. And so I gave it a go. I really like it and so just I focused on it from there.
What year were you living in London?
Pinky: I lived in London from 2015 to 2018. And then the first shop I worked back in Hong Kong was one of the first barber shops in Hong Kong.
It felt like a new thing to me because I was a hairdresser before for a long time. It’s my passion, and I met a lot of good vibe people. They also gave me so much inspiration to take me to where am I now.
How about you Tobes?
Tobes: Hey, I’m Toby. I’m originally from Vietnam, and I started doing hair when I was 17, and it started out just like a job, but now it’s more like a career because it’s like I have a lot of passion for it.
And then I met Pinky and, you know, she understood how I wanted to express myself with the whole hair industry and like, how can I can help people to elevate their look and make them feel good about themselves, you know.
How did you meet?
Tobes: Oh, dude, we met at the little shop.
Pinky: Yeah, my favorite noodle shop ever. Kiu Heung Yuen. It’s very local.
Tobes: Yeah shout out the noodle shop, that’s where I met Pinky.
Pinky: So I met this girl. She was quite depressed in her life…
Tobes: …yeah, and I didn’t know what to do with my career. I moved to Hong Kong when I was, like, 16, and I was working in a salon as a junior, but I did not like it at all. At the time Hong Kong didn’t have a lot of barber shops and they didn’t have a lot of female barbers. It was like, me, Pinky and one more girl. Our paths crossed you know, and now we thought we can do something together.
So you both started out in a salon?
Tobes: Yeah.. and I. Did. Not. Like. It.
Pinky: The barber space was more interesting and to me had more inspiration behind it.
Tobes: The salon and barbershop is so different. Barbershops carry so much classic culture with them. Like tattoo, motorbike, fashion.. But also it’s supposed to be for men and the salon was for women. And I feel like back then people were a little bit sexist; they don’t want girls to do men’s hair, and don’t have a lot of trust. But nowadays everything is more equal. Women can do men’s hair. Women can be at the barbershop, but back then it’s like a no no. For queer people too, it can be quite an intimidating experience going to a barber shop. It can be a very hyper masculine place.
Pinky: Yeah, especially if they have been there a long time, like 50 years. Those places can be full of strong characters or mad men!
Do you think that’s an environment created by the barber shop or created by the people who attend it?
Tobes: I think it’s probably a combination of both.
Pinky: The salon always has a certain type as well. It’s the same women with the same style that works for them.
Tobes: If you ask something, a salon, they will give it to you. They just try to do the service. But here we try to let you find yourself, you know, let you know what is good for you and what is not good for you.
Pinky: The barber shop has certain type with traditional classic styles of fades, buzz etc. But now the newer generation is pushing on and the people they bring up, with more different style combined together. This is what I see and I find it very interesting. If I can put these two different worlds together, that can become my vibe and my style.
Tobes: That’s why we want to have a space that’s welcome for everybody.
“A safe space to create.“
Pinky: This place, you can come here to be yourself.
One of the original motivations behind FC Kowloon is that the competitive sports environment can be a place of hyper or toxic masculine energy. Often hidden away is a much softer side of individuals personality; and a more creative side which they feel they can’t present. So it’s an interesting parallel in barbering that you feel similarly & people maybe can’t express themselves authentically.
Pinky: I feel like maybe every industry has a similar thing going on. It’s just kind of the same. Everone has the old fashioned culture of how things are and then the new generation finds a new way of doing things and create a new way to be themselves.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the concept of &SPACE.?
Pinky: So as I say, I remember from the first time we met, we both were suffering depression about our life. She was more work related and I was like, relationship problem & not comfortable with not being myself to express myself.
So she also, like, don’t know how to express herself in her career but also with her family as well.
So I remember that moment about us, and building a relationship made me so strong to want to have a space for us to feel safe. This is really how I came up with the idea.
Me and Toby get on really well. She has so much passion – and so do I. I see a bit of myself in Toby. We wanted to make make a goal, to have our own place, our own studio.
We spent years to grow our clientele, our contacts, our friends. And I learn more things because I’m also trying to travel around to meet more people, learn new skills from other people and cultures in both hair salons & barber shops.
And how are you finding it?
Pinky: I know one thing is collaboration is very important, but you need to have the right people.
First thing I feel like we need to have a good space to showcase, to show people what is our vibe. And we push ourself very strong to build our skill to let people outside know it. Then just by time, more people know us and want to join us.
And then we know education and workshops and collabs, events, photoshoots, make video: this we all have to include together . We don’t just want to sit on the chair to cut hair because that can feel boring as well. So that’s why we want to bring it all together. This is a place we want everyone to come to play.
“This life is made for you to create a space to be your all. So yeah, this is really our concept.”
When you’re building a team to work here, what are you looking for specifically?
Tobes: Personality.. Personality over, like, skill set. You know, a skill set can build but personality is something that you can’t really change over time. It’s a safe place for everybody. So I want you to be somebody who is friendly, kind and that people feel safe around you. Because people come here and we chat a lot. It’s just not about cutting hair and all. I feel like a therapist sometimes and those people talking to me feel safe. You share a lot of things. Which is nice.
Pinky: Yeah, just want to be more like a friend, family, home. Yeah, like a home for everyone because we spend more time than we do at home, Really! And, yeah definitely, she says it right. Character is the most important thing. Each of us has a different character to bring as well. We can help each other, speak up together.
Tobes: We can somehow bring out something in each other that we don’t have. We can elevate each other to be better. We need the yin and yang. Different qualities, you know, to bring out the best quality in yourself.
Pinky: That’s why we kind of work well.
How would you describe the style? The website is a little bit Y2K kind of vibes?
Pinky: It’s unisex and we still want to show we are very professional. We can do the basics and do them well. You can walk in get a haircut, a hairwash and go. But also we want to offer more. We have skill to do any style or any form with quality. We want to create more of an experience and make more friends.
This is the place we were thinking we should be doing more. Without judgement.. We can combine, classic to creative to modern, and we can bring it all together. So the style is unisex.
Tobes: If you’re a guy or a girl, it doesn’t matter. As long as you want cool hair, you’re more than welcome
Pinky: Yeah. And I feel like maybe we’re both similar in that we love to go out. We like to have fun. And we also like crazy parties. But we like nature as well. To put these different kinds of worlds together. So we want to bring this to our style.
Do you have a signature style? What even is style?
Tobes: Whatever’s comfortable with yourself. You feel confident, you know, walking out there. Yeah. Yeah.
“That’s what we want to find out with you. To build your confidence, elevate it for you.“
I don’t have a default [barbering] style, I usually try to craft the haircut with the client & their personality. Try to bring out what they like. You know, it’s not like, oh, this guy needs to get this haircut, that guy needs to get that haircut. I have a convo to see what you likeand then help deliver tha for you., That’s how we work here. It can be really creative or it can also be something simple like simple, easy to maintain, you know. I like something low maintenance and you know, just like wake up and go bed head kind of style.
Pinky: When I first met her, she was very focused on fading. All the fading. Her fading is the best in Hong Kong.
Tobes: Really?
Pinky: Yeah really. She’s become very natural. I used to be crazy about hair colour. When I first start to learn about hair. I loved having so many different colours. Now I will say my style is definitely scissor work. I just love the feeling of the scissors on my fingers, then I flick the comb and put the scissors back on my fingers again. And then more focus on the skill with the scissor cut.
After that I would say I really love to do transformation haircuts. I love when a person comes here with whatever hair, whatever length and they say, you can do whatever you want and just make me like a different person.I love to give them the confidence for being who they are. And then they walk out the shop and then just like, okay, I, I’m a new person. This is more like what I like to do.
This I really love. This is self-expression for me. I feel like my character, I don’t know how to express anger for quite a long time – it took me about a year to work this out. And the angriness that is deep down, I pour into my these transformation haircuts.
I had no idea how I can do it. But lately after talking more with some good friends, I realised this is my expression to put on that.
Tobes: Very bold and edgy. That’s how I describe Pinky, very bold and edgy.
Pinky: And every time I’ve done that, I feel so released. I feel like I’ve beat something. I’ve overcome a challenge . Yeah, I feel like that.
You feel that inner anger is an inspiration behind your creative process?
Pinky: I feel like being an artist is more emotional than logical. A lot of people, maybe from how they grow up or from how they are naturally, don’t know how to express themselves. And then that’s why they turn to the arts. They do different types of art, and all the pieces are just about telling their story.
What other areas do you look toward to get inspiration for your art?
Pinky: Music. Fashion. Nature is one of the biggest for me because I had very, like very, bad depression at that time. Really nature, friends and my girls helped me. But from the beginning I just kept going and going into nature and I start to draw. I never learned how to draw before, you know. So, yeah, it just feels like I could not express.
“You can not talk through that feeling of darkness. So you just do something to spread out. “
Some people like ten days or one month to overcome this or maybe some people take like, ten years. But it’s just the way they can express themselves when they have all these emotions in moment they can’t express them. So I think this, you know,
How about you Tobes?
Tobes: I look for inspiration in a lot of things. Also music, fashion, modelling shows. I just look at everything. Anime! Movies! My hair. So anime.
Pinky: I don’t really watch too much things, but definitely a fashion show. and music videos – I will watch so much. I just keep looking at how they do the whole concept and how they create the whole MV. Some MVs have animation combined. Yeah, that’s good.
Tobes: The source is everywhere.
What have you got planned for &SPACE. as it grows?
Pinky: Yeah, I think we really hope we can be in more education like an academy. Because it’s not really about us anymore. It’s about how we can spread our skill or our knowledge for the next generation. And also contribute to the scene in Hong Kong. How can we keep growing that and providing opportunities?
Like AI or whatever, some industries and jobs have been taken already, but for us, we really hope one day, I don’t know when I’m fucking old and cannot walk that people are still using the same skill. This is really meaningful for us I think.
Tobes: We have our own way of doing something, and we hope that we will attract the same kind of people.
Pinky: And they can continue to extend…
Tobes: … our legacy, you know. Yeah. The next generation.
Pinky: We want to inspire people to continue our vibe, our concept and our skill. To continue, to share it.
The AI concept is an interesting one. Scary maybe?
Pinky: But, the thing is, I just saw a reel on Instagram this week; they have four AI barbers walking around the shop. And then they really working at the shop.
My first thought when I see this is like “human touch is real, but you are not”. I almost want to repost on my story and saying “come on guys, you are the same industry. You should protect your own value”.
Why the fuck are you using a robot? I really worry one day this happen. But for me, I trust that our passion or the next generation everyone has a human brain.
Tobes: And we have our own sense of self. You can’t take it away.
Pinky: I don’t believe you can be a robot and cut hair for everyone. So people post this and I just think don’t fuck up our next generation!
Tobes: just report them to instagram.
Pinky: I already did. Hahaha
Do you report ’em?
Pinky: I do! When I see something like that. I just fucking report. Hahahaha
Robots walking around with scissors and blades?
Tobes: Yeah, you would you trust them?. Who’s like programming them?
Pinky: And don’t even let me know if there is one person in the future who gives all the information to a fucking AI. How to cut hair and make the barber robot like that. I’m going to go to kill him if he really is just about making money.
Tobes: Yeah, then we might jump him, Me and you will jump him.
Pinky: Hahaha, this person is gonna be fucked up.
What makes Hong Kong special for both style and barbering?
Tobes: Multicultural. So multicultural. You know, you have so many different people with different backgrounds, with different ways of how they see themselves.
A lot of people from some cultures, they don’t feel free to express themselves because it has something to do with, like religion or whatever. Hong Kong, it’s a bit of everything, you know?
You don’t think it has these constraints?
Pinky: I would say Hong Kong to me has so much culture here, for sure. But if you say is a Hong Kong is like the coolest place in the world, maybe it’s not. But Hong Kong one thing is so balanced because you can have like so much cool people on one side. And also you can have so much like, quiet very..
Tobes: banker wankers yeah
Pinky: hahaha wanker bankers, go on another side. And they all just in the same area because Hong Kong is so small. So for Hong Kong it’s a really good place to build community because the place is so small and just having your idea can attract the right people and can grow very easily and fast. That’s why for &SPACE. we wanted to find a more easy location as well.
We are a little bit different than the barber shop and hair salon right now. And this concept we want to like really grow it and tell people it doesn’t matter who you follow anymore, you just find your own style and just have a good space.
Just when you say about Hong Kong is maybe not the coolest place in the world; should it be?
Pinky: It should be. I think it should be and it should be already happening, you know, because Hong Kong is very good place. This is for sure. It’s very convenient, is easy to find everything and everything just go together like, it’s very easy for people to live here.
I just feel it’s too easy to kill the hopes of a young talented generation by making it hard to survive in Hong Kong. And that’s why we say we want to do more, like collabs, pop ups and events. This is also because we want to support those people, and show we can do it together. All about local, you know. And especially in our service, through training, like they need to work in the shop to meet more new people. We know have so many talented kids around, but they can’t find a job they like, they can’t get hired or find a suitable job at all. And why?
How can we help those people to survive; to live and support the creative people in Hong Kong? That’s why for some time even I just was like eat, sleep, starved to create because those people cannot survive.
I’m sure the government knows, but yes, can we have more [support]. If we have more support for this, then hello, creatively Hong Kong can bring something fun. We want to bring up the culture and add value HK style & scene as well. Definitely we have seen more small independent brands everywhere, but can they survive?
Tobes: That’s why we need to support each other. You know, just a small place is so competitive.
“And if we just compete with each other, no one can survive in such a small place. That’s why I think it’s so important to have a place that we can link with our clients, do different stuff and lift each other up. “
Pinky: Be yourself, grow for yourself and learn with the right people.
To support Toby, Pinky & their team at &SPACE., you can book an appointment & follow them on socials on the links below
To mark the opening of &SPACE., FC Kowloon has curated SIX iconic styles from footballers. Tthe first person to claim each style will get their cut for free at &SPACE.
First come first served.
FC KOWLOON 