Everyone tells you
to shoot a collection.
Nobody teaches you how.
Two days in Melbourne with Pablo Kuemin and Andrew O’Toole, the hairdresser and the photographer, building a collection from the first idea to the final image. Day two is a live shoot. You’re on set.
Where
Melbourne, Australia
When
Sunday 15 & Monday 16 November 2026
Format
2 days, immersive look and learn
Capacity
Limited by the set
Angelo Seminara · 3 × BHA British Hairdresser of The Year
A collection is how hairdressers
stop being local.
Awards. Publication. Stages. Brand work. Every one of them starts with a body of images, and almost every hairdresser who wants those things is stuck at the same place: they do not know how to make one that’s actually good.
This is for you if
- You want to enter awards, get published, or be asked to teach, and you know a collection is the entry ticket
- You’ve shot one before and it didn’t land the way you imagined it in your head
- You have ideas but they fall apart somewhere between the moodboard and the shoot day
- You’ve never known how to brief a photographer, a stylist, or a makeup artist and get what you actually wanted
- You’re technically strong behind the chair and want to be taken seriously as a creative
- You want to see how a collection is really made, not a finished result on a screen, but the decisions behind it
This isn’t for you if
- You want a cutting or colouring class. This is about creating work, not only technique
- You want to be handed a formula. Collections are built on point of view, and yours has to be yours
- You’d rather watch than participate. Day two puts you on a live set
These two are almost never
in the same room.
Andrew and Pablo is wherever the next shoot or show is. The only reason this class exists is that both of them are in one city, at one time, with two days clear. Both have taught before, never together, in the same room.
01
The pairing has
never happened
Each of them has taught for years. And each how to shoot a collection but there is no class anywhere where a hairdresser and a photographer build a collection together on this level, in front of you, on a live set, and until now there was no room where both of them were standing.
02
One shoot.
One room.
A live set can only hold so many people before it stops being a set and becomes an audience. The number is small and it isn’t negotiable: the shoot has to actually work.
03
Award season
doesn’t wait
Every collection you enter next year has to be shot this year. November leaves you the summer to shoot your own while this is still fresh. If you’ve been meaning to do it for three seasons running, the thing missing was never talent, it was knowing how to start.
The Collection
Masterclass
Pablo Kuemin × Andrew O’Toole · Melbourne
Two days that follow a collection all the way through.
Day one is the thinking and the preparation: where an idea comes from, how it becomes a moodboard, how you shape a clear creative direction, assemble the right team, and communicate what you mean so that other people can build it with you. We’ll also break down the practical side of making a collection happen: when to start preparing, how far in advance to approach photographers, stylists and models, how to brief and cast the right people, what needs to be organised before the shoot, and how to structure the process so everyone arrives knowing exactly what they’re there to create.
Then we move into the hair itself, at the standard the final image demands.
Day two, we shoot it. A full collection, live, in front of you: model, stylist, photographer and hairdresser working as one unit, with all the negotiation, decision-making and problem-solving that normally happens behind a closed door happening in the open, while you’re standing in it.
You’ve already seen the work.
Between them, these two have made images for the biggest names in the industry and shot backstage at the shows most hairdressers only read about. The credits below aren’t a pitch, they’re a track record.
Andrew O’Toole · Photography
Pablo Kuemin · Hair
Published work in American Vogue, Italian Vogue, i-D, W Magazine and Re-Edition, for Harrods, Hermès, Mulberry, L’Oréal, Schwarzkopf, Toni & Guy and Eleven Australia, and an exhibition at the Getty Museum.
You can learn hair. You can learn photography.
Nobody teaches you the space between them.
That space is where collections die. The hair was beautiful in the chair and flat in the frame. The idea was clear in your head and vague to everyone else. The images came back and they weren’t the ones you saw.
Pablo
What the camera needs.
Hair built for a lens, not a mirror. Shape that survives a wide shot. Texture that reads under a hard light. Why the thing that looks incredible in the salon can disappear entirely on the day.
Andrew
What the hair is doing.
Light, angle and framing chosen around the work rather than in spite of it. How a photographer reads a head of hair, what they’re protecting, and what they need from you before they press the shutter.
“The collection isn’t the hair. The collection is the picture.
Those are two different jobs,
and most people only ever learn one.”
Two days.
Idea to image.
This is a look-and-learn class, but not the kind where you sit in a row and watch a stage. You’re in the room where the decisions are made, and on day two you’re part of the crew.
Sunday 15 & Monday 16 November 2026
Two consecutive days in Melbourne. Deliberately a Sunday and a Monday, the two days most salons can spare a stylist.
What “immersive look and learn” actually means
You won’t be doing your own model. What you will do is watch a collection get built from nothing, ask questions while it’s happening rather than at the end, and then work as part of the team on shoot day: hands on the set, in the run of the shoot, seeing exactly what each person does and when. It’s the difference between watching a shoot and having been on one.
01
Day One
The Idea, the Team, the Hair
Where a collection actually starts, and why “I want to do something editorial” isn’t a starting point. Building a moodboard that communicates instead of decorating: what to put in it, what to leave out, and how to use it to hold a whole team to one idea.
Then the team itself. Who you need, how to find them, what to pay attention to, and how to brief a photographer, a stylist and a makeup artist so that what comes back is what you asked for. And the hair: designing looks that hold up in a frame, built to the standard the image will demand of them.
- Finding the Idea
- Moodboarding
- Building a Team
- Briefing & Communication
- Designing for the Lens
- Preparing the Hair
02
Day Two
The Live Shoot
We shoot the full collection. Model, stylist, Andrew and Pablo working together in real time, with you on set as part of the crew: assisting, watching, and asking as it happens.
You’ll see the parts nobody films: what happens when a look isn’t working under the light, how a photographer and a hairdresser argue productively, when to fix the hair and when to fix the frame, how the shot list holds or bends, and how a set stays calm enough to keep making good decisions at hour eight. By the end of the day, there’s a finished collection that didn’t exist that morning.
- On-Set Workflow
- Hair & Camera in Real Time
- Directing a Model
- Problem-Solving Live
- Shot List & Sequencing
- Reviewing & Selecting
The Collection Framework
The full working method, on paper, from first idea to final selects, so you can run it yourself the week you get home.
Hair Mastery Certificate
A professional certificate of completion, for your salon, your portfolio or your website.
The hairdresser
and the photographer.
Pablo Kuemin
Hairstylist & Brand Consultant
Founder, Hair Mastery · Paris
A distinct approach has made Pablo one of the most exciting talents of his generation. His work draws on early exposure to different cultures and on the underground dress-themed techno parties of early-2000s Europe, a scene that lit a lasting obsession with transforming people into characters, which is still what his hairstyling is really about.
That approach was recognised early in Switzerland, where he won eight awards including two Swiss Hairdresser of the Year titles, and entered the Hall of Fame as the youngest hairdresser in the world. In 2012 he became Art Director of Haar Vital, the global medical wig company, designing wigs for fashion and film, and cutting wigs for cancer and alopecia patients through charitable work.
London followed in 2015, working alongside Guido Palau and Sam McKnight before several years as first assistant to Eugene Souleiman. His work since has run through American Vogue, Italian Vogue, i-D, W Magazine and Re-Edition, and brands including Hermès, LGN and Mulberry. His wigs were exhibited at the Getty Museum in collaboration with Tim Walker.
- Fashion Week
- Vogue & i-D
- Hermès · Mulberry
- Wig & Avant-Garde
- 8 Awards
Andrew O’Toole
Photographer & Creative Director
Melbourne
A photographer and creative director whose work has earned international acclaim, particularly in hair and beauty. Over two decades he has built a style that holds conceptual artistry and impeccable polish in the same frame, and a reputation for a radical approach to visual storytelling that sets trends rather than following them.
His route ran through London, Milan and Portugal, honing the craft alongside legendary photographers including Annie Leibovitz. He has shot countless winning collections, and his imagery has become synonymous with innovation in the hair industry.
He has collaborated with hairdressers including Angelo Seminara, Trevor Sorbie, Eugene Souleiman and Pablo Kuemin, and with brands including Harrods, Toni & Guy UK, L’Oréal, Schwarzkopf and Eleven Australia. Though the work still takes him around the world, he is based in Melbourne.
- Hair & Beauty
- Creative Direction
- Editorial
- Global Brands
- Winning Collections
Don’t take our word for it.
He creates hair imagery with depth, emotion and a strong sense of storytelling. Andrew brings a truly unique perspective, not only as a photographer, but as an artist and mentor. His ability to absorb and understand a creative brief, interpret its nuances and translate an idea into something tangible and visually powerful is a rare gift. Andrews insight continually elevates the work, pushing an initial concept far beyond what was imagined and bringing it to life with clarity, authenticity and artistry.
Richi Grisillo
AHFA Australian Hairdresser of The Year
Andrew’s curiosity and insight has pushed me far beyond my creative boundaries and been instrumental in me winning 5 x Australian Hairdresser of the year titles. He is an absolute perfectionist, his ability to take a concept and create an entire world that feels fresh and new and inspiring is unmatched.
Frank Apostolopoulos
5 x Australian Hairdresser of the Year
Andrew O’Toole is the G.O.A.T. His eye and approach to shooting hair is unique. The way he collaborates and elevates the entire team is inspirational.
Dee Parker
3 x Australian Hairdresser of the Year
Andrew brings a rare and relentless pursuit of beauty, detail and vision to everything he creates. His eye is unmatched, but perhaps his greatest gift as a mentor is his ability to see the potential in both the work and the people around him, and elevate both beyond what they thought possible.
Lyndal Salmon
2 x AHFA Australian Hairdresser of the Year
His authentic approach and creative vision ensure your collections stand out from the rest, while constantly pushing you to explore new ideas and creative boundaries throughout the entire process. His ability to capture the essence of a collection and translate it into striking imagery is what sets Andrews work apart.
Nathan Yazbek
NSW Hairdresser of the Year
As a mentor, Andrew has a unique ability to draw your vision out of you, mirror it back through words and imagery to demonstrate his depth of understanding, and push you to places you didn’t know you could go, expanding on your concept without ever taking too much control. A master creative, coach and collaborator.
Jack Morton
AHFA Colorist of the Year
Working with Andrew has not only been creatively rewarding, it is genuinely transformative. He’ll push you far beyond what you think you can achieve. He has been a defining influence in my creative journey.
Bernadette Beswick
AHIA Australian Hairdresser of the Year
The way in which he can make an artist push their own boundaries and get the most out of their own creativity is extraordinary.
Kristie Kesic
2 x Australian Colourist of the Year
The education was thoughtful, elevated, and full of small details that completely shift the way you approach hair, imagery, and overall brand direction. It wasn’t just about technique – it was about intention, taste level, and creating work that actually feels modern.
Kelly Manu
Art & Commerce class, Melbourne · 5★ Google review, May 2026
I particularly appreciated how he took the time to explain the underlying principles behind each technique, which helped me understand and apply them creatively on my own. Pablo’s approachable and humble demeanor stood out; he was open and generous with his knowledge, without any gatekeeping.
Pedja Krsmanovic
Hairstyling course, KETS Academy, Switzerland · 5★ Google review
You won’t leave with a finished collection.
You’ll leave knowing exactly how to build one.
We’d rather be straight with you. Two days isn’t long enough to build your collection, that work happens at home, over weeks, with your own team and your own idea. What two days is long enough for is to show you the whole method, and to send you home with your idea already started.
And you don’t have to do the rest alone
You leave with the complete framework and the beginnings of your own concept. When you’ve worked it up properly, the idea, the moodboard, the team, the shot list, you can send it back to us, and Pablo and Andrew will review it and tell you honestly what’s working and what isn’t.
Almost nobody gets that. Most hairdressers shoot a collection, hope, and find out whether it worked when the entries close.
The review is an optional add-on, available only to people who have taken the class, at a rate reserved for attendees. It isn’t included in the course fee, but it is the one place you can put a collection in front of both of them before you commit a shoot day and a team to it.
Small room, real access
The number is capped by what a working set can hold. You’ll be able to ask questions during the shoot, not queue for five minutes at the end of it.
Two days. One collection.
One price, everything included. Places are limited by the size of the set. When they’re gone, they’re gone, and there is no second date on this tour.
The Collection Masterclass
Melbourne
15 & 16 November 2026
per person
- Two full days with Pablo Kuemin and Andrew O’Toole
- Day one: idea, moodboard, team, briefing and hair design
- Day two: on set for a live, full collection shoot
- The complete Collection Framework to take home
- Your own collection idea, started on day one
- Optional afterwards: a concept review by Pablo and Andrew, at an attendee-only rate
- Hair Mastery certificate of completion
Excludes travel and accommodation. Payment plans available on request.
Everything else.
Immersive look-and-learn. You won’t be working on your own model, but you’re in the room for every decision on day one, and on day two you’re part of the crew on a live set: assisting, watching up close, and asking questions while it’s happening.
You need to be confident with your own technical work, because the class isn’t about technique. Beyond that, what matters is that you want to create. This is as useful to a strong salon stylist stepping into creative work as it is to someone already shooting.
No. You’re learning what a photographer needs from you and what you should be asking of them, not how to operate a camera. Bring a notebook and your phone.
Determined by what the shoot space can hold while remaining a working set.
The class runs Sunday 15 and Monday 16 November 2026. The location is confirmed to everyone who books, with full details and travel guidance, well ahead of the dates.
No, travel and accommodation are arranged by you. We’re happy to recommend places nearby once the venue is confirmed.
There are no plans for a second date. Pablo and Andrew are on different continents most of the year, and this exists because their calendars happened to overlap in Melbourne.
The collection you keep
meaning to make.
Two days from now, it could be a plan instead of an intention.
Step 01
Reserve your place, email us and we’ll confirm within 24 hours.
Step 02
We send you the venue, the schedule and what to prepare.
Step 03
Leave with a year full of ideas for a collection.