Award winning hair stylist Tom O’Brien wants his home to be the opposite of his opulent, lavishly decorated salon. But, as Ruth Campbell discovers, both reflect his flair for cutting edge design

IT was award-winning stylist Tom O’Brien’s huge mass of tight, blond curls that first got him interested in hairdressing. He hated them.

“As a kid, you just want to blend in, but I had this big, white afro. After my sister attacked it with a razor, shaving it at the side, I found a hairdresser who straightened it for me.”

It was a revelation. “I was 13 and I thought, if you can do this with hair, what else can you do?” says Tom, who was inspired to get a Saturday job in a hairdressers in order to learn more. Having walked straight into a full-time job on leaving school at 16 and winning two major national styling awards within a few years, the 34-year-old has been doing amazing things with locks and tresses ever since.

Relaxing in the light filled, modern kitchen of his stunning home, which looks out on the river in Knaresborough, it is clear that a taste for cutting-edge style and design informs every area of his life.

Originally an 1850s period villa, this is a house that Tom has admired since he was 12, when he used to pass it every day while doing his paper round.“I remember looking at it and saying ‘One day I will live there’,” he says.

Given a modernist makeover by a previous owner, an architect and designer, in the 1960s, Tom and his partner Terry, a former engineer, have taken the transformation further. Complete with an outdoor spiral staircase, Tom likens it to a Spanish villa. But we’re not talking traditional rustic hacienda, with terracotta pan-tiled roof. Bathed in light, with clean lines, a mass of pristine white walls and lots of glass, this is innovative and modern.

The pair own the opulently styled Baroque hair salons in Harrogate and Ripon, whose clients include everyone from soap stars and footballers to Michelin starred chefs. And Tom was adamant his home should provide a contrast from work. “I wanted it to be the polar opposite of the salon style, away from the hustle and bustle of town,” he says.

After a day spent indulging clients in the luxurious, richly patterned and textured setting of Baroque, where gilt mirrors and cut glass chandeliers add a welcome touch of luxury for those looking to escape everyday cares, he likes to come home to something completely different.

Because of the stunning views, Tom and Terry kept the interior simple. “We don’t need to dress up the windows, we don’t want anything to fight with the outside. I love having breakfast on the balcony, looking out over the trees and the river. It’s lovely, you see the seasons change.” The south facing house, built against Knaresborough’s famous Crag, even has a dramatic section of the rugged sandstone rock face, complete with living vine, exposed alongside the otherwise sleek and smooth surroundings.

But Tom and Terry are not averse to the odd flash of flamboyance, from the large, stone angel wings sculpture on the kitchen wall, to retro Sixties light fittings, silver feature wallpaper, which contains tiny beads of sparkling glass, and a huge red cherry artwork made of resin which dominate the living room.

A computerised coloured light system enables them to transform their minimalist white kitchen at the touch of a button. “There’s purple, green, red and blue. We can make them rotate fast, like a disco, if we’re having a party. They change the dynamics.”

They moved to the four-bedroom property five years ago, from a one-bedroom flat in Harrogate. “It’s so much more peaceful here. When we moved in it was very nice, decorated in neutrals and creams. We were thinking all we had to do was give it a lick of paint.”

But then they discovered the roof and windows needed replacing, along with the electrics and plumbing. It was a year before they undertook the work, living in one room while they stripped everything back. They took the opportunity to change the layout, turning a bedroom into a kitchen and dining room into a bathroom, while extending the top floor, which enabled them to add a steam room and luxurious house bathroom.

Terry’s engineering background came to the fore, says Tom. “He is brilliant at construction and the practicalities, while I do the pointless and pretty things. We are opposites in style, but meet somewhere in the middle. It kind of works,” he says.

Brought up in Knaresborough, Tom, whose work is in demand for everything from major catwalk shows to fashion shoots, is in little doubt he inherited his creative flair from his mother, a single parent who worked as an air hostess for British Airways before running her own antiques business. “She is very creative, a cross between Margot in the Good Life and Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous,” he laughs.

She has always been extremely supportive of Tom. “I was more into drama and art at school, rather than the academic stuff. She gave us confidence to do what we wanted,” he says.

His first job was with Peter Gothard, in Harrogate, but he soon moved to the renowned Toni & Guy in Leeds, going on to train at their Knightsbridge Academy. Tom had natural ability and, within two years, was teaching at their Manchester Academy. “I was only 18 years old, teaching classes of 30,” he says, as if he still can’t quite believe it.

Winning first prize in the prestigious L’Oreal national colour trophy in 1999 got him noticed. “It was such a huge thing to be a part of,” says Tom, who left Toni & Guy at this point to work for an independent company. “In a big company, you become a bit institutionalised. I needed to open up creatively.”

Eventually, he was appointed artistic director at Saks, teaching stylists and going on to create the company’s training programme. After coming in the top three of yet another renowned national award, British Avant Garde Hairdresser of the Year, he was more in demand than ever. His model sported bright, fuchsia pink candy floss hair entwined with netting. “My creation was really off-the-wall. I had to make it stand out,” he recalls. “It raised my profile quite a bit,” says Tom, who ended up with a constant waiting list of more than 12 weeks long.

He went to Australia with Terry for three months to decide what to do next. “I wanted to create my own experience for people, not just around hair, but about escapism from everyday life. We decided we could do it.”

And so Baroque, named after a bar the pair saw in Prague, was born. “When we looked into the meaning of the word, we decided it summed up everything we are about: self-expression, creativity and uniqueness,” he says.

They planned to open a small salon with a staff of three in Harrogate in 2006 – “but we ended up with a huge one,” laughs Tom. Now they have 22 staff and a salon with 14 hair styling and express beauty treatment stations. With increasing numbers of customers travelling from as far as Newcastle and Kendal, they decided to open a second salon in Ripon, with a staff of seven, last year.

As their reputation has grown, they have attracted high-profile clients who want private consultations. “We have had to sign a few confidentiality agreements,” says Tom, whose customers pay from £75 up to £200 for a cut and colour, depending on the stylist.

“We get regular weekenders from London and we have international clients, too, whose husbands work in Dubai, Florida and New York. They come every 12 weeks or so to get their hair done.”

But his worst client, he says, is his mother: “She produces step-by-step diagrams of exactly what she wants. She thinks she is a hairdresser, by proxy, through me. Mum is Queen Bee,” he laughs.

  • Baroque, Harrogate T: 01423-851400; Ripon T: 01765-647177 W: baroquehair.co.uk