July 8, 2016
Salon Ruggeri Marks First Year in NoMad with Vanity Fair Profile
NoMad is home to some wonderful beauty salons, and now the singular Salon Ruggeri is celebrating its first year in NoMad with a major profile in Vanity Fair.
The salon is the culmination of a creative and life partnership between Craig Longhurst and Gregorio Ruggeri. The couple met in Sydney, Australia and quickly realized that, along with a budding romantic relationship (they are now married), the pair’s combined talents and professional experience could make for a unique business venture.
Longhurst was trained in design at the esteemed Australian design school RMIT in Melbourne and eventually became the Sales and Marketing Director for Herman Miller Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong. When he moved back to Sydney for marketing roles with Unifor and Wilkahn, he met Gregorio Ruggeri.
For his part, Ruggeri trained as a stylist from the early age of 13, working in the salon his mother owned. He apprenticed at an upscale Sydney salon before he was 15 and went on to a successful hair and makeup career, working for fashion leaders Louis Vuitton and Gucci.
The couple moved to New York five years ago, opening the first location of Salon Ruggeri in Murray Hill. A year ago, they moved the salon to 254 Fifth Avenue in NoMad.
“NoMad is now VeryMad,” Ruggeri told Vanity Fair. “But I feel that we have found our forever home and that moving into NoMad when we did was just like our first salon location, in Sydney, when we moved to a neighborhood that was on the cusp of being gentrified.”
Along with the elegant salon services provided by Ruggeri, the design influence of Longhurst is on full display in the salon space. The salon features a collection of art, modern mid-century furniture and specially designed jewelry and hair accessories — all available for sale.
Vanity Fair notes how NoMad has gone from a “no-mans-land” to a “growing and bustling” neighborhood, and its neighborhood gems like Salon Ruggeri that ensure NoMad is well on its way to becoming a premier destination in New York City.