The following tributes for Arturo Taverna, Peter Belcher, and David Taylor were written shortly after their passing.
Arturo Taverna: The Legacy Left Behind
By Rachael Grant
Arturo Taverna was a Pioneer in the hair industry and an inspiration to all. Well known for his popular salons created in the 50's, 60's & 70's, Arturo was also known for his move into manufacturing within the hair & beauty industry.
News broke today of his passing and while our team is devastated by this loss, we too are humbled to have known such an incredible man. Today, we pay tribute to the legacy that Arturo Taverna has left behind, ARTAV Australia.
The Start Of An Incredible Journey
Arturo's is known today for the incredible manufacturing and supply of brands such as Natural Look Australia & Caflon, but it started out just as impressive as it all began. Hard work, passion, dedication and care went into the building on his empire, and inspired a new generation of dreamers.
It all began in 1964 in South Australia. Arturo was a talented young and emerging hairdresser with dreams of expansion. He made a name for himself in the community, popular for the emerging cuts and the latest in styling and care products. Soon word started to spread about the quality of work performed at his Salon "Antons" and business began to boom.
It wasn't long before he started opening his doors at 5 am and finished late in the evenings. Eventually, it became so busy that he needed to open additional locations. Multiple shops started opening over the state with everyone looking to Taverna and his team for inspiration on the latest looks. Even stylists and hairdressers were drawn to his work and looked to learn from him too.
Expansion, Vision & Family
At one point in time, there were 30 Arturo Taverna across South Australia. Each salon was just as impressive as the last and offered impeccable quality. Arturo would frequently travel the world and return with the latest trends from around the world to bring to Australian shores.
Anyone who worked with Arturo was made to feel like family. He spent a great deal of time building relationships and ensuring his staff and customers were satisfied with the environment he created with them. While he earned most of the success on his own, he was a humble man who liked to share the credit amongst the team.
"You don't build a business. You build people and they build it"
Some of the key people used to create his business were also his greatest accomplishments to date, his children. His eldest son, Anthony, joined the team in the 80's where he was a direct apprentice under his father.
All of Arturo's skills were passed on to his son where they worked together to also add beauty into their salons too. They offered specials on haircuts and waxing on Tuesdays which had proven to be popular amongst their customers. Before long, the rest of his children came on board to work for the Arturo Taverna name.
Sonia assisted with office admin amongst the salons, while his other daughter, Jeannette, became a head tutor for the beauty college that was opened in the 80s.
The youngest of his boys, Andrew, had a passion for finance and accounting, so he studied that before coming on board as a joint director of the brand. While each of the children possessed different skills, the proved to have just as much passion for the business as Arturo.
Together, the family worked side by side to tirelessly build the empire that was about to make a shift into a new direction entirely.
Manufacturing Was Made
While Arturo had begun manufacturing during the early 60's, it never took primary focus while the salons were expanding. It wasn't until he exceeded more than 100 employees that the focus shifted and moved towards creating commercial quality products in 2008.
A great deal of time was put into formulating, testing and developing products. It was Arturo's vision to create products that were Natural, plant-based and sustainably sourced which now remains the mission and vision of the company.
In his short time, Arturo managed to carry out over 1,000 products across 6 incredible brands. While Arturo Taverna is no longer with us, his legacy will live on through his children. From the skills passed down to the love they were shown, passion runs deep in their veins and will continue to expand their empire.
Our deepest thoughts go out to the Taverna family. We are honoured to have worked with such an incredible pioneer that created the very foundation of hairdressing.
AMR tribute to Peter Belcher
By Stuart Hislop
It was with great sadness to learn at the beginning of December 2021, this industry lost one of the great genuine leaders.
Peter Belcher, former GM of Beauty Care Professional Henkel, passed away on Friday 3rd December at the age of 75 years.Peter championed British hairdressing and supported so many industry names as they progressed through their career, and his involvement with the British Hairdressing Awards started at the launch of the event in 1984.
Taken from the HJ online tribute - Julian Crane, the current head of the professional division for Henkel, commented: "Peter was a hugely admired, respected and much-loved member of our team here at Henkel Beauty Care. Peter joined Schwarzkopf in 1967 and retired from his role in 2008, but in the intervening years he was a vigorous and vital supporter and friend to us all, joining us at every opportunity at all major events from Salon International through to the British Hairdressing Awards."
Julian continued: "During his career, Peter gave us 41 years of his expertise, dedication and wisdom and shaped the professional business in very important and enduring ways with his high standards and keen business intelligence. He began his career as a Sales Representative and quickly progressed his career, heading up the professional division as Managing Director of Schwarzkopf Professional for over 15 years. Hairdressing was in Peter's blood; indeed, he started his career as a hairdresser, and he remained involved and committed to it, most recently with his role in the Fellowship and the finance committee, he dedicated his working life to the industry he loved. This is such a deeply sad loss for Peter's ex-colleagues and hairdressing friends but above all, our thoughts and sympathy are firmly and lovingly with Peter's family."
As testament to Peter's commitment in this business, Philip Rogers, chairman of the hair & beauty charity, explains - "Ive known Peter for as long as I can remember. He has always been the consummate gentleman. Always loyal and supportive. Never afraid to voice his opinions, but always in a fair and softly spoken way."
Philip continues; "He was a great mediator and never shirked away from any task or opportunity. Having worked with Peter on both the Fellowship and Hair & Beauty Charity Committees, I will sorely miss his banter and often intriguing point of view" (excerpts taken from Hair&Beauty charity website tribute to Peter)
To echo these sentiments, Stuart Hislop, General Manager for the AMR Group explains "I had the privilege in the early days of my career joining Peter's team at Clynol Professional, and in all honesty, being young I was at a cross-roads of my career, and if I'm to be honest, wasn't quite sure which direction my career path was going - I was young and very new to the business, but I remember having a brief chat with Peter whereby he explained the hairdressing business has a way of creating new and exciting opportunities very quickly and takes time to find the path that's right for you!
This advice stayed with me till this very day - and here we are 30 years later working in partnership with Henkel on 3 continents. I can't help that think Peter was part of this development.
Therefore, to echo all tributes, the team at AMR send love and condolences to all those who were close to Peter. It's evident that his legend will live on through the charities he has championed and retrospectively through the lives of artists and professionals that had the chance to be inspired by his generosity and industry knowledge.
Peter Belcher - we salute you.
