Studio 128 is a Johnsonville hair and light therapy salon with a simple promise: be your best self. Created by John Andrews and Miranda (Minz) Malcolmson, the salon opened its New York loft styled space in August 2011 and has been looking after clients from the inside out ever since. The focus is on uncompromisingly high standards delivered in a peaceful, private atmosphere — a deliberately calm alternative to the bustling salon floor.
Hair is only half the story. Alongside hairdressing, Studio 128 offers light therapy, with stand-up Luxura V6 and V8 capsules and red light therapy sessions. The team points to benefits ranging from increased immunity and wound healing to anti-aging effects for skin, improved joint health and reduced depression and fatigue, and stocks enhancing skin products to complement capsule sessions.
The salon works exclusively with Keune, a salon-only professional range covering the Style collection and the Keune 1922 line for men, so whatever the team creates in the chair can be maintained at home.
Behind the chairs is a genuinely experienced team. John opened his first Auckland salon at 19 and brings decades of industry and fashion-world experience; Minz has been a stalwart of Wellington hairstyling for two decades; and Izzy, trained entirely under Studio 128, adds precision cutting, creative bright colours and serious curling-wand magic.
Tucked onto Johnsonville Road, Studio 128 has been quietly doing things its own way since 2011. Founded by John Andrews and Miranda (Minz) Malcolmson, the salon opened its New York loft styled space in August of that year with a clear idea of what a visit to the hairdresser should feel like: uncompromisingly high standards delivered in a peaceful, private atmosphere, where clients are looked after from the inside out.
That philosophy shows in the name of the service itself. Studio 128 talks about hair therapy, not just hairdressing, and the team genuinely care for their clients, aiming to send everyone out looking and feeling their best.
John's story reads like a slice of New Zealand fashion history. He opened the successful Blue Cube Hair Design in Auckland at just 19, then leapt to nationwide fame as a male model in the 80s — modelling alongside Rachel Hunter and Simon Le Bon, fronting Sale of the Century as a team model for 500 episodes, and being voted best-dressed man of the era. He and his Blue Cube team even styled the last Benson & Hedges Fashion Awards NZ saw. After time in Australia, John returned to Wellington to be closer to family, and the magic began on 25 August 2011.
Minz brings two decades as a stalwart of the Wellington hairstyling scene, with stints at some of the top salons across the northern suburbs and the city — Uptop, Headwaves, Colin Lovering and Sarak — plus styling work at the Vodafone Music Awards. Her true love, she says, is making people feel good about themselves.
The next generation is in safe hands with Isabella (Izzy) Vaianu, a fully qualified senior stylist trained entirely under Studio 128. She has a passion for precision cutting, bright colours and the latest trends, and she is a self-confessed wizard with the curling wand. Even Onyx, the studio dog, is an honorary team member.
What really sets Studio 128 apart is its light therapy offering. The salon runs stand-up Luxura V6 and V8 capsules — the V6 designed with health in mind, and the V8 taking things to the next level with surround sound or your own Bluetooth music. Alongside them sits dedicated red light therapy, with the studio pointing to benefits including increased immunity, wound healing and tissue repair, anti-aging effects for skin and hair loss, improved joint and musculoskeletal health, and reduced depression and fatigue.
Enhancing skin products, including Truly Mello, are stocked to complement capsule sessions.
Studio 128 keeps its retail shelves strictly professional with salon-only Keune products. The Keune Style Range covers every finish — The Wonderful Wave, The Ultimate Updo, The Tousled Texture, The Super Sleek and The Sensational Shine — while the Keune 1922 For Men line offers Strong Hold Wax, Purifying Shampoo, Premium Clay, Gel Classic Tube and Fortifying Shampoo.
A visit here is deliberately unhurried. Rather than a packed floor, you get a calm, private space where stylists have time to get the cut, colour or light session right. Whether you are booking a precision cut with Izzy, catching up with Minz, or stepping into a V8 capsule with your own playlist, the idea is the same: leave looking and feeling like your best self.
Appointments can be booked online via the Book Now link on the studio's website — handy in a small, private salon where the team's time is entirely yours.