Crapella Is Suffern's Resident Hair-Styling Artist
By Kevin T. Czerwinski
Whether Vince Crapella is wielding a pair of scissors, a clipper or a paintbrush matters not. There's always something positive happening when he has the tools of his various trades in his hands.
Crapella is a hair stylist by trade but an artist at heart. So when you sit in his chair at Chazz Hair on Lafayette Avenue, you're more than his customer. You're a living, breathing work of art, a human canvas on which Crapella takes a vision only he can see and makes it a reality.
"I can visualize in my mind," Crapella said. "I can visualize a client with a certain hairstyle ahead of time and see how it will look. I enjoy working with my hands and designing hair is an art. I can see it ahead of time and know what will work.
"I cut hair two ways. I cut it when it is wet. Then when it's dry I cut it again. When the hair is dry you can see volume. You can't configure it when it's wet. You can put on the finishing touches when it's dry. Then I critique my own work from every angle."
Crapella has been styling and creating in the Village for nearly 25 years after spending a decade doing the same in New City. While he makes a living standing behind the chair his impact on Suffern goes much, much deeper.
He's a Village staple, as important to Suffern's fabric as the Lafayette Theater or the gazebo. Crapella has been involved in politics and the chamber of commerce, among other things, over the previous quarter of a century. Mostly, though, he's been a friend, confidante and sounding board for most folks in the Village.
"One of the nicest things about my business is the investment in the social aspect," Crapella said. "When I am with a customer, we talk about our lives. We share. It's like a visit to a friend. It's a lot more than coming in, getting your hair cut and getting out."
There's plenty going on in Crapella's life about which he can share. His wife Lise, whom he met in Denmark, is a nurse practitioner at Good Samaritan Hospital. She's also a tri-athlete - she will run four events this year as well as participate in her 20th New York City Marathon. The couple has three children, though their son, Charlie, lost his battle with lymphoma three years ago, and a pair of grandchildren.
Crapella loves music, he seems partial to jazz but will tell you about the days back in the 60s when he lived in Hollywood and listened to Tina Turner when she was still touring with Ike and living the hard life. He's eclectic and interesting, warm and inviting and makes each person that walks through the door in his shop feel like a long, lost friend.
"I love my work and what I do," Crapella said. "If I have a new client, we'll have an in-depth consultation that can last 10 minutes or 30 minutes. It's all about total communication. If I need to take a sketch pad out and show her how I will cut her hair, I will."
That seems fitting since Crapella is an artist. The walls of his shop are adorned with his work. There are at least a half dozen other marvelous paintings propped up against the wall in the front of the shop, ready for hanging or sale.
He grew up in Paterson, N.J. when the city was vibrant and wonderful, living up to its billing as Silk City. This was the Paterson of Lou Costello and Hall-of-Famer Larry Doby, a city rich in culture and commerce, all of which seems to have had an impact on Crapella.
"I was always the best artist in my class,'' he said. ""I always excelled at being the best artist. I've been painting for years. I've worked with oils and now I work with acrylics. I have a dream and it may never happen. But when I have 15 painting that are good, I'd like to have my own show in a gallery in New York.
"I'd like to be in a space where I can share my work with other artists. I'd like to have a big enough space, too, where I can just throw a big canvas on the floor and work. Right now, though, I just paint them and save them. I'll sell one occasionally but I don't try to."
That's just how Crapella is. Making the money would be great but it simply pales in comparison to the satisfaction he gets from creating - whether it's with paint and canvas or scissors and hair.