Known for her bold and artistic approach to hairstyling, Indira Schauwecker has been awarded the coveted Avant Garde Hairdresser of the Year title a staggering three times. Born in Switzerland, Schauwecker moved to London 17 years ago with her sights set on becoming a hairdresser. While she didn’t speak English, she had nonetheless become enamoured with London’s leading hairdressers, whose work she’d discovered through Swiss hairdressing magazines. “I wanted to come to London and learn from the stylists behind the pictures,” she recalls, “so I wrote letters to Toni & Guy, Trevor Sorbie and Vidal Sasoon… unfortunately, with no response. As a headstrong girl, I made the move to London anyway.”

Schauwecker’s first port of call was the Toni & Guy Academy, who hired her as an assistant. She stayed in the role for three years before becoming a hairstylist. “To be honest, being an assistant was probably my favourite part of my whole Toni & Guy career,” she admits, “I learnt so many different techniques from assisting on shoots, during fashion weeks and working alongside some of the industry’s best hairdressers.” Now the International Artistic Director at Toni & Guy, Schauwecker divides her time between education, shows and session work. INFRINGE spoke to her about her formative experiences in hair and her love of Avant Garde hairdressing.

You have been awarded the title of Avant Garde Hairdresser of the Year three times. What do you most enjoy about creating hair that fits into this categorisation? What I love about Avant Garde hair is that there are no limits, rules or expectations, there’s a real fairytale element to it. I’m a dreamer, as a child I always loved listening to fairytales. It can often be a bit flamboyant and over the top, however I try to keep it pretty and beautiful as well as mysterious. Avant Garde hair is known for being big, sculptural and very colourful. In my work, I think I manage to dial it down slightly, so it becomes less of an extravaganza. What I really love about it is that it gives me the freedom to express my weirdest dreams. It takes you out of ‘normal’ hairdressing, I feel like I become an artist and I can utilise a lot of the crafts I used to love as a child, like knitting, stitching and origami.

And any you’d rather forget? I’ve never been keen on the 90s. I was a teenager then and I looked ridiculous because I copied everyone else! Black and white fringes and side ponytails are definitely hair trends I would rather forget!

What’s your most unlikely source of inspiration? When coming up with new concepts for my collections, I try to avoid researching other hairdressers. It’s so easy to copy something that has been done before, even if you’re not meaning to, you get influenced in a certain way. When developing techniques, I try to take my inspiration from things that have been created in another art form, like stitching and sculptures.

If you could style anyone’s hair, who would it be? It would have to be Donald Trump! Not because of his political views but because someone desperately needs to style his hair! The only problem is that I wouldn’t know where to start… I’ve overcome many obstacles in my career but I know that would be by far the hardest.