Nemanja
Vukanovich.
Thirty years behind the chair. Owner of The Kinsman in West Village, Manhattan. Building the software, education, and tools he wished he'd had from day one.
From a single chair in Podgorica to a software company.
Nemanja started cutting hair in Podgorica in the mid-90s — apprenticing the slow way, sweeping floors for a year before being allowed near a client. He learned the trade the way his grandfather had: scissors first, clippers only when the scissors weren't enough.
By the early 2000s he was in London, working senior chairs at three of the city's best shops. By 2014 he had crossed the Atlantic and opened his own room: The Kinsman, on West 10th Street in the West Village. Reclaimed wood, vintage chairs, a Tiffany clock on the wall, espresso for waiting clients. New York Magazine's The Cut called it "Working With Scissors, Designing With an Edge."
Running the shop was the part Nemanja hadn't trained for. Manual booking. Texting confirmations at 11 PM. No-shows that ate the day's margin. Clunky POS hardware with monthly fees and a touchscreen that never quite worked. By his count, he was losing fifteen hours a week to administration — fifteen hours not spent on the craft.
TheKinsman Technologies is the answer to those fifteen hours. Software designed by the person being interrupted by it. Built so that a master barber in New York and a one-chair shop in Madrid get the same tools — and neither of them pays a commission on services.
The career, in order.
-
1996
First chair
Apprenticed in a one-chair shop in Podgorica. Learned the trade the slow way — shaving for free, sweeping floors, watching every cut.
-
2003
Senior barber
Moved to London. Cut at three high-end shops across the next decade, building a clientele and learning what separates a workshop from a chair people queue for.
-
2014
Opened The Kinsman
Founded The Kinsman in the West Village of Manhattan. Reclaimed wood, vintage chairs, espresso for waiting clients — a room built around craft, not turnover.
-
2018
Featured in The Cut
"Working With Scissors, Designing With an Edge." New York Magazine named The Kinsman one of the best Greenwich Village barbershops. The wait list got longer.
-
2024
Started TheKinsman Technologies
After losing too many hours every week to no-shows and manual texting, started building the software he wished he'd had from day one. TheKinsman Booking shipped first.
-
2026
Three products in motion
TheKinsman Booking running shops worldwide. Academy and Goods coming next — education and tools shaped by 30 years on the floor.
Three rules we don't bend.
Time is the craft
Every hour spent on admin is an hour not spent behind the chair. Our products buy that hour back.
No commission on services
We charge for software, not a cut of your work. What you make, you keep.
Built by working barbers
If it would not survive a Saturday at The Kinsman, it does not ship.
Inside The Kinsman.
Where Nemanja still cuts — West Village, Manhattan. Images courtesy of thekinsman.com.
Built by a barber. For barbers.
If you run a shop, Nemanja built TheKinsman Booking for you. If you want to learn the trade, Academy is coming. If you need tools that actually hold an edge, Goods is next.