It’s not just a hairdresser, it’s not just a cafe, and it’s not just a store. It is all that, but it is much more. We went to meet Pikikos and tell you all about this special space in Lisbon.
It may not be the most likely pairing of all, but it works. Pikikos is in Campo de Ourque and is a 3-in-1, combining in the same square meters a hairdresser, a cafe, and a store. In common, one theme: sustainability.
Natasha Cálem got tired of working in big companies and decided to bring into a business of her own all the little things that give her pleasure in life. “I have worked for many years in social responsibility, business and sustainability. I had great customers, but I wanted to do something more consumer-oriented. My first idea was a hairdresser for children, but that was not enough for me. I wanted to do more to contribute to a better world,” she tells Peggada. And she did.
Natasha opened the hairdresser’s shop, but decided that it would not be just for children, nor would it be just a hairdresser’s place. And it all started with construction. The ceiling and floor have been kept and all the furniture is second hand, which was a challenge. “I had to wait a while before I found, for example, three matching tables and chairs to set up the terrace.”
The shelves were old scaffolding, the bar is made of recycled wood, and a part of the floor they had to add is made of a mixture of carpeting and fishing net remnants.
At the hairdresser’s, Natasha relies on expert hands like Carla Quaresma’s who, she admits, has already cut kids’ hair in every corner of Pikikos. Even though there is an amazing elephant-shaped chair there. “You have to love children and understand them,” she tells us.
And although it’s not just a hairdresser for children, they are very special clients here, not least because there are few spaces with this purpose in Lisbon. “And the ones that exist, look like a Disneyland, full of plastic toys,” Natasha comments. And plastic is in short supply around here.
For hair care, they work only with the eco-friendly Davines brand, the towels are made of organic cotton, they reuse the water from washing hair for flushing the toilet, they reuse gloves, and all the cleaning products in the space are ecological. Oh, and they offer a coffee to those who don’t mind washing their hair with cold water. And not just any coffee. Natasha chose to have specialty coffee, joined by homemade and vegan sweets.
But there is more. Those who enter Pikikos to go straight to the coffee shop or the hairdresser, do not do it without first going trough the shelves full of products that appeal to what is most sustainable in us. There are reusable bottles,traditional games, soaps made by Syrian refugees, raincoats made from plastic bottles, and textbooks.
This, which is already a multiple space, wants to grow even more in people and projects. Natasha wants to go back to running workshops and being a showcase for small brands. And on Saturdays, starting April 23, it is vegan brunch day.
Pikikos
Address: Rua 4 de Infantaria, 53C, 1350-243 Lisboa
Schedule: Tuesday through Friday 9:30am-6:30pm. Saturday 10am-5pm
Contact: 917849132
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Português (Portuguese (Portugal))
