She's won many business and humanitarian awards including an OAM but popular Kingston hairdresser Jenni Tarrant is finally celebrating her first creative award.
The owner of Bond Hair Religion was named the NSW-ACT Hairdresser of the Year at the Australian Hair Industry Awards - Creative in Sydney on Monday night.
It was a big night also for her salon, with staff taking out three national awards for their artistic work, including salon of the year.
For Jenni, winning hairdresser of the year was a treasured accomplishment she can finally tick off.
"I've been a finalist about six times in the last eight years and for me to finally take out something in the creative is just - I mean I've been doing it for 41 years and it means the world to me and it means a lot to that 14-year-old who started hair-dressing all those years ago," she said.
Jenni won the title for a collection called Forge. She collaborated on the stunning work with the salon's Amber Bullock who subsequently took out Master Colourist of the Year at the awards.
"Amber did all the colour placement and I did all the haircuts and styling around it," Jenni said.
"[The collection] was basically about the two of us. She's 20 years into her career, also a 15-year-old high school dropout. I suppose it's the two of us coming together and collaborating and forging our talents, knowing that we've got amazing gifts in our industry and wanting to show that."
The Bond Religion Team, also won Salon Team of the Year for the Treason collection.
And the Forge collection crew - photographer Andrew O'Toole, make up artist Kylie O'Toole, stylist Catherine V - won the Behind-the-Scenes Dream Team award.
"It's always been my dream to have the whole team's creative and technical skills recognised," Jenni said. "We are all over the moon at this result.
"It's not common for a salon to reach finals in four categories and then win them all, so it's a very exciting time as flowers and messages of congratulations flow in."
Jenni, who has been a long-time supporter of the homeless and women and children at risk, in 2022 was awarded the medal in the general division of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her services to hairdressing and to humanitarian initiatives.
She still does the hair of about 50 clients a week in the salon and is booked out a year ahead. But there are plenty of talented stylists to choose from.
"I mean 90 per cent of my staff have all come from first years and gone right through and they're all as talented as Amber and I," Jenni said.
The trophy will go on a shelf in the salon, alongside Jenni's other awards.
"It's a pretty big one for me because I retire in five years," she said.
"I've always got more goals on the go so I hope to aim for Australian Hairdresser of the Year in the next five years. That's the big one."
The staff celebrated their wins at a "fantastic" night at the awards at The Star in Sydney.
"We would have partied all night, but in true Bond style, we got back to the apartment about 1 [am] and packed up at 5 [am] to get the bus back to Canberra for a full day of clients until 8 last night," Jenni said, with a laugh.
Jenni also paid tribute to the people who supported her business.
"Our clients get so much joy out of these wins and it's real," she said.
"Because they really respect the energy that we put into what we're passionate about. I'm really thankful to our families and our incredible clients who come to Bond because they believe in us. It makes what we do every day an absolute joy."
Awards organiser, Mocha Group owner and publisher Linda Woodhead, praised the winners from Canberra.
"Jenni, Amber and the entire Bond Hair Religion team are the perfect examples of industry stand-outs and they have been incredibly inspiring to those around them," she said.
"Each of their winning collections showed off their incredible talent and I'm so excited to have all of them representing Canberra as ambassadors for the awards program and their local area. As with all our 2024 winners, they are now looked to globally as innovators in technique, trend and service."
