A few years back on one of the main shopping streets of Nijmegen I saw on a new window screen:  Nozem’s 6511 –  Barbier.  My surprise was even greater when I looked inside and suddenly it was like looking in to “black and white” movie scenes where they show an Italian barber shop from New York. I am not going to describe the interior in text, instead I will let you see it for yourself in the photo gallery of this blog entry.

That first look through the window was the moment I knew that I had to come and try the place out. Unfortunately, due to all sorts of circumstances, months have passed until I managed to return for a haircut. This happened on a Saturday in the last weekend of October. From the point of view of writing this article, this was last weekend.

If you have lived in the Netherlands for any period of time, you will probably know, that for any place that offers some sort of a service you will need to make an appointment. So you can imagine how Nozem’s went up 100 points of respect, when I asked the owner if they can cut my hair without having a reservation and he told me, sure, you can take a sit and wait here or come back in 30 min. To be fair, they also prefer that you make an appointment, but they are very cool people, so let’s go on with the story.

While waiting in one of the comfortable leather armchairs, I was served with a choice of coffee and tea. The 30 min turned out to be more like 15 min , which I spent observing how some of the passers-by  would stop and pick in trough the window screen  while others, would come in to snap a quick photo of the charming place.

This is one of the most relaxed and easygoing places I have been to, the barbers, were very friendly and open to trade stories. But not before he asked me “So how would you like your hair to be cut?”. I started answering that I sort of liked the style I already had, to which he replied: Got it! This haircut, only six weeks shorter.

I think he did a really good job, I liked it and my girlfriend loved it so he must have done something right 😛

After the haircut, I wanted o find out a bit more about the place so I decided to ask the owner, which took the role of a cashier that day. Just like the entire staff, a very friendly and easy to talk to person.

He told me that Nozem is what he used to be called by his grandma when he was up to no good as a youngster.

When I asked about the place itself, how did he manage to give it such character, did he choose all of the furniture and decoration elements on purpose? To which he was brutally honest and said, that it is a random collection of things he happened to find over time and which fitted within the theme of an early 18^th century barber shop. But more that that he wanted to give it a feeling of a actual living room, where people would feel comfortable and relaxed. And to reinforce this, every last Saturday of the month they have a musician in the barbershop, and people that pass by can just come in and  celebrate together the month that has passed. This way he hopes that people would have nice memories of Nozem’s 6511 and when they will be in need of a haircut, they will remember and come back.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this story, I happened to visit the place in the last weekend of October which happened to be also the one year anniversary of the shop. To celebrate, this event 2 members of the Singer Songwriter band called Daniel Cane & The Rebellion came to perform. They were very talented so I ended up buying one of their CD’s  and now a few years later I still don’t regret it even though it has only 4 songs.

The barbershop concert, at some point drew in quite an audience. All in all it was an amazing experience and I can recommend this barber shop without any reservation.

I want this to be an ongoing project, so if you know any shop (bakery, café, etc.) that has character and you love to visit, please let me know on instagram: @dutzuphotography.  For the latest updates and newest projects, come back for another visit or follow me on instagram: @dutzuphotography.