A social life for your hair: Larry King's new salon

I never planned to be a hairdresser. When I was at college I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do as a career, so my mum thought I should learn a trade of some sort. She suggested hairdressing…

My initial reaction was, 'No way!' But she she had some contacts and insisted she could get me a job in a cool salon and that it would be fun. I went to Toni&Guy in Cambridge, and, as it turned out, I loved it from day one. Back then there were only ten Toni&Guy salons in the UK, and I got the nickname 'Toni&Larry', because I was so enthusiastic.

I moved to Toni&Guy in London, then left and started to work for a few other salons and formed a good relationship with Select model agency. One of my friends there asked me to cut the models' hair, and that's where I met David Gandy and other big names. David started to ask me to attend his shoots as he liked the way I did his hair, and it snowballed from there – people got to know me and would ask me to work on other shoots, then I signed with the management agency Streeters.

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People started to ask me when I was going to start my own salon, and I didn't want to rush it, so I took my time to make sure all the pieces were going to fit. I had a lot of support from friends, and then I found this location next door to the South Kensington Club, which is perfect.

I've worked with a lot of celebrities including Jared Leto, Zayn Malik and Cara and Poppy Delevigne, but as well as shoots, I still work with clients in the salon, because I really enjoy that aspect of the job. Sometimes I'll work on a shoot until 2pm then go straight to the salon. It's really important for me to treat all my clients the same, as the relationship someone has with their hairdresser is very personal and it involves a lot of trust and respect.

We're a small, friendly team made up of two award-winning colourists, Amy Fish and Harriet Muldoon; two of my close friends in hairdressing who are incredible stylists, Louis Cowley and Scott Ade; my assistant Lilli Bridger and my good friend Rachel Bartlett.

I'm the UK ambassador for Redken, and I love working with the products. It's very big in the States, with an edgy NY feel to it, and we thought it would be great to collaborate at the salon with some exciting exclusive partnerships in the pipeline. I'm also working with Pureology, which is bit more holistic – it's organic, vegan and free of parabens. People have always thought about what food and drink they consume, but nowadays more people are starting to think about what's in the products they're using.

Dyson is another brand I've partnered with in the salon, which is amazing, as the hairdryers have heat sensors so they don't overheat or damage your hair. They're very quiet, too.

For the salon interior we wanted to bring a bit of the East End to South Kensington to create an industrial feel but with a sense of opulence, and, most importantly, a relaxed atmosphere. My wife and I are a great team, as I do the hairdressing and she does the design, so everything you see from the logo to the branding and the website was done by her.

I want this to be a place that people enjoy spending time in – a social life for your hair, if you like. It may look grand from the outside, but the salon isn't at all pretentious, and I want people to know they can call in here anytime to hang out and say hello.

Larry King's client base includes Gucci, Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana and Marks & Spencer. He contributes to Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair, shooting with photographers such as Rankin, Mariano Vivanco and Venetia Scott; Salon at 34-36 Harrington Road, London; larryking.co.uk