Meet the avante garde team:

Bill and Mary Tsiknaris

"We don’ t just cut hair – we believe in looking after it"

The combination of offering the best and latest to the client, a quality boutique salon and a thirst for change - results in the multi-award winning style of Brisbane Hair Couture team Bill and Mary Tsiknaris.

In 1997, Mary was outstanding as the winner of the Avante Garde Hairdresser of the Year. Always adding to his comprehensive trophy collection, Bill has found this to be the opening up of many other doors and careers including Aust. Photographer of the year (three times) and Qld Stylist of the year (three times), to mention a couple…..

Bill: A lot of people like doing Avante garde styling and photography, but the balance is hard to get as there are only a couple of awards that utilise it. You can’t really use it for mainstream, so Mary's last shots were a nice compilation – really beautiful, elegant but a bit mad.

Mary: I really love the solid geometric looks– avante garde can look a bit scary sometimes, which doesn’t appeal to a lot of people.

– Aust Cosmo has featured Mary’s alluring avante garde work.

B: I really enjoy changing peoples look – they need to look beautiful, even w/ really strong makeup – it can’t lose the plot of the avante garde concept.

M: It has to look beautiful so that everyone can enjoy it, and appreciate how much work has gone into it.

B: The tribal concept is a collection of a few bits and pieces – the hairpieces, the breastplate, Mary took over from there. It just came together.

M: I look @ the total image, start building, and get a balance. You can’t really plan - if you have a good hair day, (we did that day) it really helps!

B: The fantasy concept needs to have a theme, that you can create a few looks from - so when its viewed as a collection, it tells a story - you get the whole feeling coming across, and that’s exciting.

B: I like to mix daylight w/ tungsten. I always like really dramatic lighting, as long as it is really clean – no skin tones that look blotchy – I’d rather a porcelain look. I use cross processing for more of an edge on the colors, to make features stronger – depending on the film.

B: The salon has been a great highlight – it’s given us a lot more freedom to go in the directions we want to go.

M: If it happens in the fashion industry - on the catwalk, you need to relate it back to your client, they want to know what the latest thing is even if they don’t wear it.

B: This tends to be more of a lifestyle thing – it is really strong, really feminine –a little more flexible.

B+M: the awareness of how far you want to go w/ your own interpretation to develop the direction – you drive yourself to where you want be and what you want to do.

Salon details:
Bill Tsiknaris Hair Couture
Level 2 / 169-171 Elizabeth Street
Brisbane 4000
Australia
+61 7 3221 3334