We recently connected with Erin Dunaway and have shared our conversation below.

Erin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

My husband and I have been doing hair for 16/17 years and have always had the idea of integrating the female salon side with the barbering side of the industry, creating a community feel. When we had the opportunity to bring this idea to Hendersonville it was a no brainer. Over the years of our careers we have never really seen anyone combine the two while also creating a space to host events and support the people who support us, our community. We both come from a strong education background and have seen other salons open and stylists and barbers struggle. Being able to combine so many important things into one space seemed like such chaos but it made sense in our brains to have a space where people can get high end services and still feel welcome, somewhere we can offer education for people in our industry and a place to host events that will benefit our community. Artifact Collective is that combination of things plus more and the response has been overwhelmingly positive, if feels so good to see all these visions come to life.

Erin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I have been doing hair for almost 17 years, graduating from a small beauty school in Las Vegas, NV. I moved to San Diego, CA where I’m originally from and had to rebuild my business from the bottom up. I was fortunate to build a massive “family” (all of my clients become family) in San Diego and then Covid hit. Living in California became like living in a different dimension. I was a new mom, my son wasn’t even 3 months old, trying to navigate not only that but having my career taken away from me by people that deemed me “not essential”. My husband Daniel, who is a seasoned barber, and I knew that we didn’t not want our son to grow up in a place that he couldn’t be a kid and do the things that will shape him into the man he will one day become. We knew that Nashville (Hendersonville specifically) was a place our son would thrive but also where we would get that sense of community our souls were longing for. When we came up with the dream of Artifact Collective we knew that it would not only benefit us by giving us the opportunity to spend more time with our son but it would also benefit our community that we are so grateful to be a part of. The definition of “Artifact” is – “ an object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.“. We felt like this was important, something that is of cultural relevance must be part of a community and we want to give back and take care of the community that gives to us. Everything in the shop has been donated or purchased from people and businesses in middle Tennessee, like artifacts. We have taxidermy that was donated by one of our stylist’s papa, memories of hunting trips he went on. Art deco waterfall vanities from wedding venues or were family heirlooms that weren’t getting the attention they deserved. We filled this space to make it feel like home to our guests and home to the stylists and barbers that spend most of their days there. We were so blessed to create friendships with some really wonderful people by them coming and sitting in our chairs. People have donated their artwork, posters from tours they’ve played and an amazing Local business, Edit, who are creating a signature cocktail for clients to enjoy while they have their hair done. The whole concept of this business we couldn’t have done without the friendships we’ve built and we are so grateful for everyone’s support.

Any advice for managing a team?

Having a strong team is something we feel is CRUCIAL to a successful business. So many times we’ve seen stylists and barbers burnt out and their passion for the craft lost. A lot of that burnout comes from leadership that doesn’t support them by offering continued education to keep them inspired, making them feel like they’re replaceable and not creating a sense of equality. When you feel like you’re just there to make the business owner money and don’t feel appreciated, passion for our craft dies. We are constantly thinking of new ways to support our stylists and barbers by working along side them and asking for feedback, what can we do better? What do you want to LEARN? Having that open line of communication has been so important in creating an equal playing field, without our team we don’t have a business they are building this dream WITH us and their input is important. LISTEN to your team, take their advice and provide them with a space they feel heard, seen and appreciated.

We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.

Daniel (my husband) and I met on TINDER. Something we joke about often. The first time we met we were already sharing our dreams and goals, we realized that we shared a lot of the same ambitions and it was instant that we were meant to do life together. We had a baby, went through a pandemic and moved across the country, bought a house and opened a business together. SO many huge life events in a short timeframe. There’s no one else I could imagine running this business with! He truly understands the ins and outs of this industry and we are able to have these outlandish ideas and help each other bring them to fruition.

Contact Info:

• Website: WWW.theartifactcollective.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artifact.collective.tn/
• Other: Artifact Collective https://g.co/kgs/gAjueG