An Artful Space for Transformation
There’s a stillness in the space at Archetype Hair in Greenfield that feels soothing. The colors are cool and appealing, even the chairs are thoughtfully chosen. An alter window pierces the wall that delineates the hair washing station. Behind a white wood carved screen, a tea kettle, French press, and cups are placed on a tray on a painted bureau, the color of which matches the lacy curtains that filter light from the massive windows. This is a curated salon that exudes restful energy.
Which makes sense. Owner Stephanie Kauffman was immersed in the high-stress New York art world as an art handler while living in Brooklyn for 17 years. When she had to leave her apartment because the building sold, she returned to Greenfield, where her brother lives and where she had a built-in community from her Hampshire College and Rowe Camp days.
“I started cutting hair at summer camp when I was a teenager, because we would have these hair nights. And I just never stopped,” she said on a recent sunny day at her salon.
Back in New York, when she got laid off from a job in the art world, she decided to pursue that passion and went to the Aveda Institute, then worked at salons in Manhattan and Brooklyn. For Stephanie, hair care is a creative process.
“I think a lot of hairstylists identify as artists. And I feel like doing cut and color, it’s a way to have a complete thought.”
As she works with a client to bring out the best in the way they look, she also works with them on a deeper level.
“I really value the connection that happens with my clients,” she said. “I’m a certified Reiki practitioner. I also practice yoga, and I feel like there is an energy exchange that happens when you are touching someone’s hair, cutting someone’s hair. I feel like the people that end up being drawn to me, we end up being sort of drawn to each other. The relationships that I build with my clients over time, I think it’s really cool. Being a hairstylist, it definitely restored my faith in humanity.”
Stephanie integrates sustainable practices in her business, recycling cut hair and other waste and using products that are certified sustainable. “Sustainability is really important,” she said. “I actually feel really gross when I have to throw things in the trash.”
A graduate of the Franklin County CDC’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator who participated in the Take the Floor business pitch contest, Stephanie also met one-on-one with an FCCDC business coach and received a small grant from the FCCDC through a partnership with the City of Greenfield. Working with the FCCDC “was really helpful,” she said.
While setting up her space and her business, Stephanie faced some challenges, including finding a plumber who would install her sink in the center of the room so that she could wash clients’ hair from above. She also learned that she needed permission to hang her sign outside in one of those “how do you know what you don’t know” moments. And her credit card reader recently has been temperamental. Business ownership is not for the faint of heart.
“Hair is interesting, because when I cut my hair recently,” she said, “one of the reasons I chopped it was because I was moving into a new era of myself.”
Archetype Hair on 24 Miles Street in Greenfield is open for business and Stephanie is ready to grow her clientele as she moves into this new chapter of her life.
