The salon may have opened in its current iteration on Queens Road in July 2022, but the minds behind Yard & Quarter came together long before that. The desire to open a salon that embraced sustainable principles was important to James and Renee from the beginning.

As my lemon and ginger tea cools on the table beside me and my interviewees get situated, I look around the space. I’d never been inside Afri-Co-Lab before, and it’s so much more than I’d imagined.