Over the course of a two-week span that began in late June and ended in early July, Hemphill took his studio on Pennsylvania Avenue and had it gutted practically to its core. The nail, mortar and plywood evidence of the work going on inside the salon had, in fact, been conceived one year ago, when Hemphill began studying the effect that a new splash of light and sound could have on the space. He also began asking his clientele what they wanted from his salon.

"It was quite natural that our clients would have a huge impact on where we were going to take this," Hemphill says. "People should come to a salon and have an outstanding experience that will last for the next six weeks of their life."

The finished product - 6,000 square-feet of re-designed space at a cost of $300,000 - is the combined result of Hemphill's creativity and the needs of his clientele. Six rooms were re-created, infusing a kaleidescope of new lighting, leather chairs imported from Italy, cloudand-sky ceilings from Los Angeles, and over 20 individual work station pods to promote privacy. In addition, clients now have the ability to access the internet or communicate with their office through the use of laptop computers stationed throughout the salon.

"I wanted to sew a common thread through the whole experience of being at Michael Christopher Designs," Hemphill says. "When you're ripe, you're rotten, but when you're green, you grow."