BY ANOUK BERKHOF
The Zernike Foodcourt recently gained a new mobile barbershop: Kapper Kribb. The bright red vehicle is pretty hard to miss, which is exactly what barber and student Jesse Kribben, who fixed up the van himself, wanted.
‘The contact I have with my customers is the best part of this job’, says Kribben, as he trims law student Tymen Schuurmans’ beard. ‘You really form a bond.’ Kribben plays music and welcomes his customers with a shot of ginger juice and a glass of water. He doesn’t get a lot of female customers, but that’s okay. He prefers cutting men’s hair.
It all started when he was just fifteen years old, when he started cutting his brothers’ and his friends’ hair. He liked it so much that when he started studying commercial economics, he also took on an apprenticeship with a barber in the city. When he graduated, he left for Australia to start his business as a barber.
Corona
Unfortunately, his dream fell apart because of the pandemic. Jesse had to return to the Netherlands. Undeterred, he continued with his plans: he bought an old fire truck and transformed it into a mobile barbershop.
The transformation wasn’t easy, though: ‘I didn’t even know how to hold a drill’, says Jesse. ‘So I took up a job with a construction company where I’d be surrounded by professionals I could learn from.’
A few months later, he installed the last few shelves in his van, finishing Kapper Kirbb. At first, he drove his van around for work. But because the vehicle wasn’t in great condition, he decided he should find himself a permanent stand. He found the perfect location right outside the Zernike Foodcourt.