Nicky Pope has been at the helm of Colour World since its inception in 2016. With the 2025 iteration just around the corner, she shares her insights, memories and more 

Since its first show hosted in MC Motors, Dalston, Colour World has been an annual melting pot of community, innovation and creativity. Running over the 18th and 19th May, this year’s event-come-festival will bring together industry greats and up-and-coming talent to celebrate colour, just when the industry needs it most. 

In the run up to the event, we sat down with Nicky Pope to learn more about the impact of the festival and why it’s become a key date for people’s calendars…

Let’s go back to the beginning, why did you create Colour World? 

I came into the hairdressing industry as a journalist in the mid ’90s, but I had previously worked in the music industry as a promoter and so had some experience of doing live events. 

I was always slightly disappointed with the hairdressing events on offer as it’s such a dynamic and progressive industry yet the events were fairly formulaic and not very inspiring. So I invented Colour World. I had the dream of it for some years and eventually found a venue that could really bring it to life. It’s a trade show – for want of a better word – but in a building that brought inspiration.

How do you think your music background influenced the event? 

Hairdressing and music are very creative industries but what makes hairdressing so special is that people are always learning from one another, this doesn’t happen in performing as people are ‘showing off’ their skill. 

But, I wanted to take the sense of festival to the show. What I really like about a festival is that the people on stage become the audience – at Glastonbury, the performers become the viewers. I wanted to create this ‘regenerative’ nature at Colour World and break down barriers between people learning and people demonstrating. 

How do you think you have created this atmosphere versus other shows? 

We work by an ‘anti-zoo’ principle, by which I mean there are no barriers, no fences, no them and us. People are literally attending a house party for colour – we don’t distinguish between the presenters and the visitors, everyone is the same. 

I wanted it to feel like my home – in the kitchen somebody was making dinner, in the living room somebody was telling jokes, in the garden somebody was playing tennis, upstairs somebody was trying on shoes. We are like a travelling circus.

What can people expect when attending Colour World? 

Everything to do with colour, and I mean everything, is out in the open. There are 30 different colour demos in the same day, short workshops, bitesize Q&As. There’s no backstage, the backwashes are all out in the open, there are no changing rooms so everyone has access to the buzz. 

It’s important to say that this is not a sales event – we want people to come, learn, talk and socialise. My favourite part of the event is the living gallery where anybody doing colour, anywhere, can bring a model to that platform gallery and present.

How have you seen the sector develop over the last decade? 

I think the technological innovation is massive in the way you apply colour, the effects you can get, but also the improvement of the way colour works so that it doesn’t damage hair. These advancements mean that you can do several things on the same head of hair. You could literally never do a chemical technique and a colour at the same time ten years ago. I am also hugely impressed by the use of hair pieces, wigs and weaves and the developments we have seen in this space. 

What’s your favourite Colour World moment of the last decade? 

I remember when John Spanton did ‘tartan’ hair for the first time at the show, that’s stuck in my memory. It’s the same way Xpresion do their technique now. 

If there was one thing you want people to take away from the event, what would it be?

I want people to remember that there is still a lot of joy to be had from hairdressing. Although there are a lot of tough times we have to work together to get through them. People have to think “Yes, I have to look after myself and my own business and get that right, but I am part of something bigger”. 

Colour World is returning on 18th and 19th May at The Organ Factory, Hoxton. Tickets are on sale here. 

If you are interested in exhibiting or getting involved, email nicky@ihaa.co.uk.