Pushing Boundaries - Trevor Sorbie artistic director Johanna Cree Brown

Trevor Sorbie artistic director and award-winning avant-garde stylist, Joanna Cree Brown  has enjoyed a truly creative career

Looking after my clients in the salon is still what I enjoy most about my job. I also love my creative work and bringing ideas to life. I get to collaborate with like-minded individuals and push the boundaries. I enjoy the cross over from fashion, art and film and being totally out of your comfort zone often produces the best results.

The hairdressing world gets more and more exciting every year. I feel like it’s constantly changing and moving. There is room for everyone in our industry to express their creativity and work and I believe that is so important. I love that the industry is now a global world and the cross over into fashion, art and film is really exciting. There are also many more great platforms now where you can get noticed and/or inspired which is fantastic for the younger generation.

If Johanna Cree Brown was a brand, the brands I would aspire to try and emulate would be both Apple and Dutch fashion designer Iris Van Herpen. Iris Van Herpen because she is in love with inventing new forms and methods. Apple always do something new and bold, driven by evolving in today’s fast-paced world. Both these brands are brands I love!

I don’t think you can ever pinpoint where inspiration comes from as it really is everywhere; artists, photographers, fashion designers and multimedia artists are creative creatures and their work is inspiring. The Natural History Museum or the Science Museum are always good environments, art exhibitions, a shop window you pass, Instagram, talking with the team, or even a conversation you have with a client.

These days with our phones it’s so easy to photograph and catalogue our work and the things we see every day or when travelling, so you need to get your hands busy. Start working on your ideas straight away. Try and layer your references and don’t be too literal with your source of inspiration.

Trevor Sorbie artistic director and award-winning avant-garde stylist, Joanna Cree Brown has enjoyed a truly creative career. This might mean re-visiting other ideas, so it’s good to keep a visual record or collect materials and fabrics and combine various ideas together and let them evolve. Sometimes it’s instant and a simple idea and sometimes it takes more work. During the creative process, I like to try new materials or different approaches to the hair to see what’s possible. When I think I might have something I’m excited about I share it with the team and the people I love to collaborate with to see if they are excited about it too. Once an idea is complete, I will then show it to Trevor.

One career goal I still have would be to continue exploring the potential of film. I’ve collaborated with Roger Spy for about seven years now, producing many hair and fashion videos. We also have so many more great ideas we want to explore, so it would be wonderful to keep progressing and working with hairdressing on different mediums. Ultimately, I would love to keep evolving, sharing, supporting and enjoying our amazing industry.