About
Brian Phillips received a BA in Communication Studies from Concordia University in Montreal in 1981. In 1989 he opened worldSALON, which in 1993 was voted “Perennial Best Hair Experience” by Toronto Life Magazine. After a serious skin reaction caused by toxics in salon products, Phillips launched worldPRODUCTS in 2001, a multi-use personal care line for hair and skin that is a healthy alternative to the plethora of toxic products on the market today. The line was perfected and wholesaled to select establishments for testing, with resounding success. In June 2015 the line was re-branded as WORLD Hair and Skin and is now being offered to a community of like-minded salons and retailers across North America and Europe, striving to achieve healthier beauty for clients, staff and customers.
A creative dynamo, Phillips has designed hair for many MAC advertising campaigns, twenty three years of “Fashion Cares” fashion shows and worked on celebrities from Norah Jones, kd lang and Joni Mitchell to James Marsden, Kim Cattrall and Terence Howard. In July 2004, The Clean Air Foundation’s “Cool Shops” launched their summer program at worldSALON where Mayor David Miller congratulated Brian for being a leader in the small business community. In June 2007, worldSALON received a Certificate of Achievement from the Ontario Power Authority for reducing electricity consumption by 50% in seven years and in March 2010, Phillips was honoured by Toronto’s “Green Circle Salons”, as the first recipient of the “Green Circle Award for Environmental Stewardship” at the Canadian Hairdresser Awards.
In November 2014, worldSALON was voted Best Hair Salon in Toronto in the Now Magazine “Best of Toronto” Reader’s poll and in February 2015, Phillips was honoured at Environmental Defence’s 30th Anniversary Gala with the “Green Champion Award” for 2015 for “25 years of leadership in sustainable business practices and progressive work eliminating toxic chemicals in personal care products.”
worldSALON is in it’s 30th year of business and continues to be recognized for it’s “cutting edge” style and being a leader in Canada for sustainable business practices.
In his down time, Phillips is an avid runner and on November 1st, 2015, he ran the New York City Marathon in a time of 4:15. He also writes, and his work has appeared in “InMagazine”, “Conflict Resolution Magazine”, blogs for www.world.ca, www.environmentaldefence.ca, and the art book “Queen of the Fish Heads” by Ivan Otis. In the near future he plans on publishing “Tectonica” – a compilation of poetry and short fiction he completed working on with the guidance of Antanas Sileika as part of the Humber School for Writers Correspondence Program.