Takahiro “Taki” Kitamura was born in Tokyo in 1973 and moved to the United States with his parents when he was two. His father taught for 18 years at the University of California, Davis (UCD), and his mother instilled Japanese culture in her children, from cuisine to folktales, to preserve their history. Kitamura got his […]
Category: Art
Pauline’s Flowing, Evocative Line Art
Before exploring tattooing, this 27-year-old artist studied environmental sculpture at Seoul National University. Pauline, a well-known Korean tattoo artist, began his career in 2015 and has since done numerous guest spots in Asia and Europe. His art is characterized by figural distortion, scribbling lines, passion, and movement. Pauline’s delicate tattoos are influenced by Austrian art […]
Shane Tan, a Tattoo Artist, Talks About His Incredible Bodysuits
Shane Tan was born in Singapore in 1984 and has had a passion for tattooing since he was a child. His immediate family members had tattoos, and they were acquainted with first- and second-generation tattoo artists. Tan’s father bought him a coil machine for his sixteenth birthday, which he taught himself how to operate. Spending […]
The Rebirth of Old Crow Tattoo: An Interview with Owner Hannah Wolf
Old Crow Tattoo studio was founded in 2009 by Philip Milic and acquired by tattoo artist Hannah Wolf in 2020. Now situated at 5250 College Ave in Oakland, California, it is a female-run studio with resident artists Hannah Wolf, Laura Taylor, Natasha Tsozik, and international guest tattooists. During an in-person conversation with Wolf, we learned […]
Kari Barba: The Queen of Modern Tattooing
Kari Barba has been tattooing for four decades. She was one of the few female tattooists in the 1980s and has devoted herself to promoting gender equality and advancing tattoo hygiene standards to what they are today. She is tattoo royalty and the co-owner of Outer Limits, the longest-running tattoo studio in America and the […]
Delphin Musquet: On a Mission to Produce Timeless Tattoos
The first time I met Delphin Musquet, he was lying on a portable table in agony as Giorgio de Duesanti inked his body at a Californian event in 2019. Both he and Duesanti are part of the resident team at Sang Bleu—a well-known brand and studio based in London, Zurich, and Los Angeles. Musquet established in the […]
Charlie Cartwright: The Godfather of Black-and-Grey Fine Line Tattooing
On my way to Charlie Cartwright’s home in Modesto, California, I was excited to be conducting a rare interview with the pioneer of single-needle tattooing. Cartwright (plus Jack Rudy and Freddy Negrete) changed the tattoo scene’s course; better yet, they helped build it to what it is today. All of them were inspired by 20th-century […]
Filip Fabian’s Watercolor Tattooing in San Francisco
Slovakian-born Filip Fabian got into tattooing at the age of 16 because of his cousin, who had a tattoo studio. Eager to get started, he bought a $20 coil machine and tried inking a rose on himself, but the device broke down. With practice, better tools, apprenticeships, and many guest spots, he became a professional […]
Jio’s Tattoos Express the Joy and Pain of Life
Jio was born in Dzerzhinsk, Russia, and emigrated with her family to the South of Portugal, where she spent part of adolescence and eventually studied in Lisbon’s prestigious university (Faculdade de Bela-Artes da ULisboa). Even though she still has a strong connection to Portugal, that country did not give the opportunity she deserved to become […]
Tattoo Love: Photography by Kaja Gwincinska
Known for her photographic work of “Faces of the Future”(curated by Hanumantra), Polish-Brit Kaja Gwincinska has focused on capturing the essence of tattooed people through her lens. In this photoshoot, she depicts the NR Studio tattooist Offline, and says, “Paul [Offline], has a kind and loving nature, and balanced approach to life.” Some of these […]