Tony Ricci wins Canadian Stylist of the Year and Elite Master Hairstylist at the 34th Contessa Awards
After being held virtually for the last two years, the 34 th Contessa’s brought out the glitz and glam that the industry had been missing during Covid. The awards were held at the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto, celebrating all the best the Canadian Beauty Industry had to offer.
Tony Ricci, Oriac Artistic Design Team member, reclaimed his well-earned spot at the top of the beauty industry winning the Contessa for both Canadian Hairstylist and for Elite Master Hairstylist!
Despite strong competition from the other entrants, Tony’s Goth Collection, created with his brilliant vision and using colour and wet lines from Artego, stood head and shoulders above the rest. Tony’s incredible knowledge and experience with photographic imagery, incredible ability behind the chair and his ability to take risks all while bringing out the best in the team around him, were clearly evident through his beautiful collection.
These two Contessa wins were Tony’s 8 th and 9 th of his incredibly successful and well awarded career. Despite his tremendous success, amidst a transitioning industry and a global pandemic, even greats like Tony were uncertain about his place in the industry. These amazing wins show however, that Tony is still an icon in the industry. As he shared moments after winning, “when Covid went down, we all came together and everything was done at home; we did the photography ourselves, the makeup, the wardrobe, the models was all on our own and we end up winning; it just shows how important where you are from can be, with the team that you build and if you are willing to work hard”.
Members of the Oriac management team were also on hand at the awards. “We are thrilled to be here to support Tony, Marlo and our entire Artistic Design team; we are so proud of Tony and so happy for him. It’s been an incredible year for the team and for Beauty Fusion, It’s Color and the Artego wet lines with an incredible number of nominations and award wins. We felt so very fortunate and grateful to be finalists in three categories at the Contessa’s and to see Tony win these two awards was simply the icing on the cake. Our design team, under the leadership of our Artistic Director Marlo Steenman is doing so much incredible work. We are so excited for the industry to see what this amazing team will do next year and beyond” said Dave Basi, Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Oriac Trading.
Tony shared in his acceptance speech that “he loves what does and he honestly does it from the bottom of his heart”. Clearly, the Canadian Beauty Industry loves what Tony and the entire Oriac Design Team are doing as well.
