Art of the pivot

How to change your work environment to fit the future

Over the last year we have all found our selves in a interesting predicament. Covid has caused some major restructuring in certain markets. My last Magma mag focused on how my imagery is evolving. How sometimes change is necessary in order to reconnect with creativity when the our passion becomes stagnant. What I didn’t cover in that mag was the fact that I’ve been a Barber my whole life. Much like photo, barbering is a art. It’s something I use to get the creative juices flowing. It’s also a therapeutic outlet for my self and my clients. A place where we can talk about our world in a comfortable environment without having to feel judgment. Ultimately it’s a place that you should leave looking and feeing amazing. Covid took that for almost a year. Our safe space of conversation and relaxation disappeared into a world of stress and solitude like a harsh winter storm.

For those unfamiliar my name is Ryan Rich and I had several barbershops in LA up until a law change forced my buy out at the end of 2018. Although I stayed behind the chair at a shop located on Rose ave in Venice beach I knew I craved different. I was feeling like the conversation with friends in the chair was the only part of the day that I truly looked forward to which isn’t a good feeling when your job is to perform service and the service come secondary to the conversation. I knew it was time for a change. Even throughout 2019 I was trying to figure out what my new move was. I craved environment that was solely mine, one on one, and sparked creativity.

I had designed a floor plan for mobile Barbershop early on in 2019. The project overall was unrealistically expensive for a single chair Barbershop. I was looking into other spaces as viable options to put a single chair Barbershop. I found a few locations that would fit my needs but never ended up pulling the trigger on the paperwork...

Then the world changed in a dramatic way. Covid forced mass closures of the hair industry. All of a sudden a single chair Barbershop on wheels didn’t seem all that expensive of an idea. I went out and bought a sprinter van. 

I had a lot of familiarity with sprinter vans from my adventures and road trips over the years. It was actually a dream vehicle of mine. You can do so much with the sprinters. You can make them in the rugged off-road beasts or long glide tried and true roadmaster campers. Through this love of the sprinter chassis I had learned quite a bit about what exactly you need to have to run a successful power set up, insulation, and creature comforts.

Now my dream of having a sprinter was manifesting in a different way.

I wasn’t ready to separate from my dream. I needed my sprinter to be a fully functioning mobile barbershop and adventure rig. I called my good friend ran over a van speed shop in Costa Mesa California to run my idea past him. he had never done a Mobil Barbershop before it was open ears to hearing my idea and with the solid floorplan and his knowledge of these incredible machines we would embark on one of the most unique barbershops the world had ever seen.