This barber isn’t just giving fresh looks to customers, but also to his building.
Owner, Yonatan Ben Lulu (YB) saw Unite Barbershop at 18 Holland St. W. transformed on Wednesday, June 5 with a new mural, featuring hand painted images of a barber pole, scissors and a razor.
After going through about 15 different designs, YB said he landed on the final design because he felt it would be inviting for everybody and clearly communicate the shop’s purpose with the three items most closely associated with the trade.
“Scissors, razor and barber pole — if you don’t have those three, you’re not a barbershop,” he said, adding the symbolism of those images balanced nicely against the intricacy of the shop logo.
While he had originally applied to Bradford’s downtown mural program to help cover the roughly $2,000 cost of the artwork, YB said he understood the decision from the May 13 meeting of the strategic projects committee to decline the application for being too commercial in nature.
Still, that minor setback wasn’t enough to discourage YB from moving ahead and covering the cost himself, and by the time the committee decision received final approval from council during the June 4 meeting, the mural artist had already come by to take measurements and prepare for installation on Wednesday.
The barber worked with two Ukrainian artists, Kostiantyn Sukhobrus of ODVs Art Studio and a painter known as Maruska.
“She’s incredible. She’s done hand paintings on Lamborghinis. Her portfolio is insane,” YB said, adding that she spent 12 hours in “scorching heat” on a lift from local Battlefield Equipment Rentals, from which she recreated the design through air brushing and spray cans.
He admits to being “very picky” about the design, and YB is “100 per cent” happy with the “one-to-one” recreation painted on the building, praising Maruska’s level of talent as “almost a forgotten trade.”
Having already received plenty of positive feedback, YB is hoping more local business will be inspired to add murals of their own, as way to beautify and revive the colourful character of the historic downtown.
“If you’re looking at the Bradford archives, and you’re seeing just how beautiful the strip was — the Pizzaville was nice and red and had a huge sign on it, The Queens Hotel — the history and design that those places had, has been lost with the years,” he said, adding that the storefronts of Bradford's downtown could be just as colourful and unique in their personality as many of the shops along Queen Street in Toronto. “I just want to bring that fresh drop of colour back.”
While the creative nature of the barbershop made the mural seem like a natural fit for the owner, he thinks any business could do it in a way that matches their style.
“Some of these artists are so incredible, you’re able to be so specific and they’ll still know exactly what you want,” he said.
The young entrepreneur said he had the idea to include a mural as soon as he began preparing the shop for its opening in December and he realized there was no actual second storey, making the faux upper wall the “perfect” space for some artwork, especially since there are currently no other murals facing directly onto Holland Street.
Other murals in town include the Like a Rock mural painted on 73 Holland St. E. in 1998, the Yonge Street mural painted on 64 Holland St. E. in 1997 (and repainted in 2007), the Bradford Legion mural at 115 Back St., as well as the Bradford District High School (BDHS) murals at 16 John St., where the Postcards of Bradford mural was previously painted in 1996.
However, all of those either face into parking lots or onto side streets, which was also true of the Holland Marsh mural painted at 64 Holland St. W. in 1995 (and later painted over in 2016).
In terms of advice for other business owners who might want to add a mural of their own, YB said they should “just let your creativity run,” and also “trust your artists; your artists know best.”
“You need to put your personality into it,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s your business and you should be doing something that you like.”
In line with that same sentiment, the barber is set to launch a mentorship program before the end of the month, intended to provide six spaces for students interested in learning how to become barbers.
YB will be providing mannequins on which students can practice and learn techniques, with the barber hoping to take on the students three at a time to ensure he can give them each the attention they need.
“As a beginner you have so many questions, and there’s so much for you to discover,” he said. “Within a four-year mark, I was able to go from apprentice to business owner, and I just want to show kids that they can do that too.”
To those students who show dedication and talent, YB might even offer a job at the downtown shop.
“I want them to spread their wings like I did,” he said.
For more information about Unite Barbershop or the mentorship program, call 905-775-9063, visit their website unitebarbershop.ca or follow unitebarbershop on Instagram.