THE CHAIR ORIGINAL INTERVIEW
THYMULLAYKING
From selling everything he owned and disappearing to Bangkok, to picking up a pair of cheap clippers on a dairy farm and eventually building a name recognised throughout barber culture. Jabez Makawe never really had a plan. Maybe that’s the point.
THE CHAIR: Before Thy Mullay King, before Jabez Makawe Studio, before people knew your work online, who was Jabez Makawe? Where did you grow up, and what was your world like before barbering came into it?
I was lost, drifting from job to job. I hated it. I couldn’t shake the feeling that there had to be something more to life than this, but I didn’t know any way out of it. I thought I might be destined to live the rest of my life that way.
One day I just thought, fuck, I can’t do this anymore.
So I sold everything I owned and moved to Bangkok, Thailand.
The plan was basically to stay as long as I could until I ran out of money. I ended up staying there for six months and it was one of the best times of my life.
I was just doing things I loved. Training Muay Thai every day, meeting new people, going on adventures.
The Thai people didn’t have much, but they were so happy. It made me realise that in the West we chase the wrong things thinking they’re going to make us happy. Money, material wealth, all that shit.
I eventually came back to New Zealand owning nothing, but I was more determined than ever to find something I loved and somehow make a living from it.
Not gonna lie, going from millions of people in Bangkok to a dairy farm in Reporoa with my brother because I was broke…
Shit was rough. Laughs.
01 / CHEAP CLIPPERS
THE CHAIR: So you’re broke, living on a dairy farm. Where do the clippers enter the story?
I came back from Thailand with a mullet and in the shape of my life. I went to live with my brother so we could train together.
A few months in, he decides he wants a mullet.
So I get these cheap-ass home clippers and give him one.
Man, I just remember locking in so hard. I went straight into this flow state. It was the same feeling I got hitting pads in Muay Thai. Everything else just disappeared.
I remember thinking, damn, I wonder if I could learn this and make it into a career.
I had a little laugh with my brother. I was like, “Bro, imagine if I get good enough that somebody pays me 20 bucks for a haircut.”
We laughed so hard because I was fucking broke. Laughs.
If it wasn’t for my brother supporting me during that time, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am now.
But after that haircut?
I was hooked.
02 / INTO THE DEEP END
THE CHAIR: What happened next? How do you go from one mullet on your brother to actually becoming a barber?
Bro, I just got obsessed.
I’d spend every waking hour studying YouTube videos and learning everything I could.
The hardest part was finding people who would actually let me practise on their hair. I was in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Out of maybe ten people around us, two or three would let me cut them.
Two months in, I told everyone, “I’m ready. I’m gonna go get a job in a barbershop.”
I don’t think anybody really took me seriously other than maybe my brother.
But I made an Instagram page, put up a couple of pictures and told my story. I figured somebody out there would relate to it and give me a shot.
Then I followed heaps of barbershops around New Zealand.
No shit, I woke up the next day to five job offers.
I ended up taking one at Kings Union Barbershop in Napier. Shout out to my bro Kerry for putting me on.
It honestly felt like the universe aligned.
My daughter was living in Napier with her mum and I wanted to get there and be part of her life. Then this opportunity appears in exactly the place I needed to be.
I’m so grateful for that opportunity.
THE CHAIR: So after two months of cutting, you walk into a professional barbershop. How ready were you really?
Bro, no shit, I didn’t even know how to put a neck strip on because I’d never used one. Laughs.
But I’m a big believer in fake it till you make it.
Just throw yourself in the deep end. You’ll figure it out.
Not gonna lie, I was damn good for how long I’d been cutting. And I was just so happy to be there.
After years of working jobs I hated, suddenly I was working in a barbershop doing something I loved.
I just went from strength to strength.
I stayed hungry, kept learning and got myself deeply involved in the barbering community.
“NEXT THING YOU KNOW, BARBERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE POSTING THEIR MULLETS AND TAGGING ME.”
THY MULLAY KING / THE ORIGIN STORYTHE CHAIR: Then somewhere along the way, Jabez Makawe becomes Thy Mullay King. Where did that come from?
When I started in the barbershop at the beginning of 2018, the mullet hadn’t quite come back into fashion yet.
But I had one and I loved it.
So anytime I cut a mullet, I’d post it. I just kept posting them.
Next thing you know, barbers from all over the world are posting their mullets and tagging me in their stories. I’d reshare them on mine.
People started travelling from all over New Zealand to get a mullet from me.
I used to call it the 🔥resh Mullay.
At its peak I’d have over 100 reshares of mullets I’d been tagged in sitting on my story. It was bananas.
I remember that clearly because once you got to 101 stories, Instagram would delete the first one. You could only have 100.
Eventually I just became that guy, you know?
Thy Mullay King.
THE CHAIR: But barbering became bigger than the haircut for you too. Who helped shape that side of you?
There were two barbers I met at different events.
The first was Vea Fonua.
He was already an established master of his craft. He’d won all the awards, opened multiple shops. He was just that guy in New Zealand at the time.
I don’t know why, but he took a liking to me and took me under his wing.
I felt so blessed to have somebody with that level of knowledge that I could call on.
Then there was Peleti Oli.
He was an OG gangster, urban, hood-type barber. A man of the people.
He could do crazy designs, he’d won all the awards too, but he was also a master relationship builder.
He knew everyone and everyone knew him. Barbers, famous musicians, rugby players, everybody.
He taught me how to move in different circles and opened doors to rooms I’d never imagined I could be in.
Eventually the three of us teamed up and created Trilogy Barber Expo.
Even though they were the OGs, I had my own strengths.
Social media. Marketing. Building hype.
THE CHAIR: What was the vision for Trilogy?
Bro, we were just making it up as we went. Laughs.
The main goal was just bringing everyone together and creating a space away from the chair where we could all vibe together and learn from each other.
But yeah, bro…
Just another example of fake it till you make it. Laughs.
THE CHAIR: Two years into your career, you decide to open your own shop. Why?
I loved working with Kerry and the boys at Kings Union, but I just felt like I needed to spread my wings and learn what it was like to run my own shop.
Especially with how my influence was growing in the industry.
People were calling me an OG and I’d only been cutting for two years. I didn’t even have my own shop.
I guess I was just so immersed in the craft and the culture that opening my own place felt like a natural progression.
I also wanted to push the boundaries of how much a barber could charge.
When I started, haircuts were $20.
THE CHAIR: Which is funny considering you once laughed about somebody paying you $20.
Laughs. Exactly.
THE CHAIR: So what are people really paying for when they book with you today? Is it just a better haircut?
The longer I’ve been in the game, the more I’ve realised it’s about the relationship with the client.
What’s he going through?
Is he anxious? Is he relaxed? Happy? Sad?
Does he want to talk?
Does he want silence?
I mean, I mastered cutting hair a long time ago. That bit’s easy.
But giving that dude a place where he can kick back, relax and be himself, get a nice haircut and walk out feeling good about himself?
That’s priceless.
THE CHAIR: You started this journey because you couldn’t accept spending your life doing something you hated. Do you ever look around the studio now and think, fuck, I actually found what I was looking for?
Yeah. I remind myself every day that I’ve built my life on my terms, around how I want to live it.
It hasn’t been easy. There’s been trials and tribulations just like anyone else.
And not gonna lie, I still feel the social pressure to conform to the norm.
But then I remember my time in Thailand.
I remember the Thai people being happy with nothing but each other.
So success to me is having a community you belong to, contribute to and bring value to.
And that’s Jabez Makawe Studio.
Success is choosing how I want to spend my time.
Time freedom is the ultimate freedom to me.
THE CHAIR: So what’s next? Where’s Jabez Makawe ten years from now?
Bro, if I’d even told you half the things I’ve done in my life, you’d know I can’t answer that question. Laughs.
I might decide I want to be some astronaut tomorrow and go fake it till I make it.
THE LAST WORD
NO MAP.
NO PLAN.
NO PERMISSION.
Maybe asking Jabez Makawe for a ten-year plan was always the wrong question.
His life hasn’t moved in straight lines.
He sold everything and moved to Bangkok without knowing what would happen. He came home with nothing. He picked up cheap clippers on a dairy farm. Two months later he walked into a professional barbershop without knowing how to put on a neck strip.
Somewhere along the way, he became Thy Mullay King.
Maybe tomorrow he’ll become an astronaut.
Fuck knows.
For now, you’ll find him behind the chair at Jabez Makawe Studio, Napier, New Zealand.
CUTS. CULTURE. COMMUNITY.
BOOK THE CHAIR →