Greg Murrell Director

What was your initial inspiration for Ryder?

GM Ryder was born out of a time where the whole idea of what or where a salon could be was changing. The existing model was that a salon had to be in a strip of shops. So we opened in 1999 in a very spacious ex-Jewish school building that was stand-alone up the top of a hill overlooking Albert Park. The main ethos at the start was about offering fashion-connected, quality modern hairdressing in an utterly unique location.

Why is it important to keep your vision for Ryder moving forwards?

GM Like everything else in life things in our industry are ever-changing. Rightly or wrongly I have always been an idealist so while change is challenging it has always been important to me to evolve whilst staying true to our initial inspiration and values. Along the way things like sustainability and safety around chemical use have become very important as well.

Your relationship with the NZ HITO (Hair Industry Training Organisation) has become important to both parties, why did you feel it necessary to get involved?

GM Many people in our industry have become disillusioned with current training outcomes. Typically, people in my position with a wealth of elite-level experience and also a background in the fashion side of things have not put themselves forward for involvement in governance. So I did and if in some way my input helps us get better training outcomes then it will have been worth it.

Having apprentices is a big responsibility, how does it feel once they’ve come to the end of their training with you?

GM Training people is simultaneously very challenging and highly rewarding. To be part of someone’s training journey is a privilege as you are moulding and shaping them to be equipped to take our craft forwards into the future. There’s a legacy being left there. I was fortunate enough to be trained by some amazing people and it’s my job to carry that on. When someone completes training there is an immense feeling of satisfaction.

Ryder became one of NZ’s first “sustainable” salons, what was the motivation behind this?
GM Looking at our ethos and positioning in the market as one of the leaders in the space, it became an ethical and moral imperative to do as much as we could. Our industry has traditionally used a number of chemicals which are now considered harmful so it became a health decision as well. Then there is the issue of waste and how that is managed. We are continually working on all of this. The big challenge coming up will be around carbon footprints.

Where do you see hair fashion in the next 10 years?
GM I’ve been wrong before with future predictions but what I can say definitively is that people think and feel differently about hair from decade to decade so it will be different to now. Hair is such an important part of our individual identities and it is the one aspect of ourselves that we can instantly change. This is obviously influenced by fashion but also the prevailing cultural, social and political more’s.

Lastly, what is it with Navy blue?
GM Giorgio Armani is famous for only wearing black and I can understand why. I love the colour blue and I feel good wearing it so it became a bit of a habit. Once a week or so I’ll branch out into black or grey before heading back into my navy blue cave. I wouldn’t say I feel anxious wearing other colours but I get a feeling that I should be wearing blue. Is that weird? Haha..