Things that make you go hmmmm?

Do you remember that song Things That Make You Go Hmmmm? I do. Things that make me go hmmmm happens to me a lot.

People make some pretty interesting comments on our decorations and furnishings. Some people get it, and I would say the vast majority of people get it, some people don't, and some don't really care, but those that don't care are missing out on a lot! Those who just don't get it, but they might if they knew, should ask. We'll tell you. :-)

Everything in our place is either functional, beautiful, or functional AND beautiful, or, some governmental agency MADE us put it there. The things that are functional are obvious. Say... like a chair. You sit on it. But if this is a Picasso chair, it can be sat upon but it also reminds Sue of specific life lessons from Picasso and his art, and the chair reminds her of this. The other things, the nonfunctional things exist, not for just a functional purpose alone but as symbols, reminders, and triggers of nostalgia. They reinforce philosophies and ideas that we've learned throughout the years and many from our travel adventures.

We really enjoy our work and we really enjoy working with each other, so placing symbols and reminders of fun or impactful memories around us makes work even more fun. Some people walk through our door with preconceived notions and project those notions on us without understanding why we do certain things the way we do. Like walking in the door and seeing our knight standing in the corner wearing a complete suit of armor. They smirk, then they say something stupid like "That's weird... you have a suit of armor in your business." Yes, we do. What they are really saying is "Gee, your place doesn't look like every other place I've been in." Well, that's not accidental. And, they must not realize that they're standing in our place because they didn't like the place that looks like every other place, but they want us to look like every other place. If we operated our business like every other business, this person would leave our business just like they left the previous business that followed their suggestions. And... others would also leave our business just for following their advice. So, I ask them some questions like do you like to be treated with respect? Yes. Do you like to treated with honesty? Well, yeah. Ok. The knight is the first thing we put in place each time we open a new location.

This is because the knight reminds us of the Knight's Code, which is the collected traits that we'd like to protect, instill, promote, and practice. But you just called someone "stupid". Yes, I did. So the respect aspect of the Knight's Code in effect but the honesty aspect is also in effect at the same time. I believe that walking into a business and insulting the owner of the business in the first ten seconds that you know us when you know that we're in charge of any beauty service that you receive is "stupid". If there is another word that represents this activity while remaining honest, please contact us and let us know. So, for now... we'll just stick with "stupid". Respect and Honesty are very important to us, but our pursuit of respect does not trump our pursuit of honesty. And, yes... we can be both, but our pursuit of respect does not mean that we're willing to be abused, insulted, assaulted, or in some other manner "DISrespected" just to fit into someone's contrived opinion of what the word "respect" means to them. Thus, the knight. Thus, the Knight's Code. https://static.wixstatic.com/media/dfd45b_0f569e8a71e94a05b2f2cb8d25d4c866~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_789,h_611,al_c,q_90/2020Cat31.webp

We have our "boobie cabinet" (a world-class antique) from the early 1600s in the reception area which represents the height of craftsmanship in Strasbourg, France at that period. We have a bamboo cabinet in our Maui esthetician room, but this cabinet doesn't match the boobie cabinet in style, in age, or in the perfection of fine craftsmanship. So how could we have these two "conflicting" items in the same place? Well, the bamboo cabinet is also the height of craftsmanship if you're living on an island and you are working with a machete and a hammer and you can only choose the local materials to work with. We can enjoy both items, for the same reasons, but differently. Some people don't take the time to think about this and it confuses them. Others get it. We love Strasbourg and we love Hawaii, at the same time.

We have French, American, and English artifacts in the same room from various time periods. Weird huh? Not really. Some people have thought so. In fact, several years ago we had a strange woman from Australia walk in and freeze in place on her third step and then said quite loudly... "I don't GET it!" So, I said "What?". She said, "Well you've got an anchor, an antique cabinet, a stained glass lamp, and a painting but they don't go together. What's the "theeeeme? Is it like nautical, or antique, or WHAT"? I said, they're all things we like, that's the theme. I watched her brows furrow and her mouth go sideways and she simply couldn't process what I said because they seemed so insistent to her and she desperately wanted us to adapt HER sense of taste. But part of the fun of starting your own business is that you get to do things the way that YOU want to. And, part of the fun of going into other people's business is to see what they decided to do. And, if she got her way, every single place would look exactly the same, and it would then be a very boring world. But this strange woman would really like it. We didn't and we don't care if she likes it or not. WE like it, our clients like it, our students like it, and the few that don't are free to go somewhere and open their own business, where they will be annoyed by other people telling them how their place SHOULD look.

A much more enlightened path to take, and more pleasant for us, would be to say, wow, that's an interesting shield. What's the story behind that. We would say, that's a shield with a giant swan on it from the early 1900s opera presentation of Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky written in 1875 which is one of the most successful operas ever written. It also represents the fascination throughout Europe of the swan and what it represents. It is also a reminder that this was not a popular opera at the time but one that has developed worldwide critical acclaim. So, some things that seem strange at first end up being a worldwide cultural treasure in just a few years, proving that those narrow-minded people that hated it at the time were wrong. Kind of like those that struggle with our design choices. We KNOW what we know.

We have many different artifacts from many different locations. Just ask us and we'll explain them to you.