Scene360The 2021 Golden State Tattoo Expo was one of the few to take place in California in 2021, and one of just a handful in the United States during a pandemic year. It was a pleasure to be back at a major event, as many tattooers saw each other for the first time in almost […]
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 […]
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 […]
Stephen C Stratton, a youngster in the late 1970s, tattooed his buddies with a popsicle stick and taped sewing needles. At The Needle Master studio, he got his first professional tattoo, a Lambretta-scooter motif connected with the Mod revival subculture. Stratton joined the military and became a nurse a decade later. Because tattoos were frowned […]
After the last year and a half without tattoo events, it was a breath of fresh air to be attending one, especially in California. Held on May 7 – 9, 2021, at Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, north of Sacramento, the expo was packed with spectators in the banquet hall—giving the impression that tattoo demand will […]
Kari Barba has been tattooing for four decades. One of the few female tattooists in the field in the 1980s who has devoted to raising awareness on gender equality and pushing tattoo-hygiene standards to what we recognize today. She is tattoo royalty, owner of Outer Limits, the longest-running tattoo studio in America and the second […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
From retro typefaces to mandala vectors, Design Bundles has plenty of tattoo-related elements for your needs. Founded in July 2016 by Alex France and Andy Croft—Design Bundles is an online platform delivering over 800,000 products from illustrations, templates, photographs, add-ons, backgrounds, and more. Of course, not all of this is revolving around tattoos; there is […]
