| "Between us we cover a big range of work, both traditional and new design. I travel a lot, doing shows, and I try to bring back designs from all over. We’ve now got one of the biggest collections of designs in the north-west. In terms of customers we get a lot of people from Manchester and Leeds because Rochdale is easy to get to. Many people are especially interested in the fact that we mix old school and new school. Right now we probably get more women than men and they choose new school styles, often small tattoos, but detailed work. Some stuff – like a name – can just take a minute to do, but some people – I’m working on doing someone’s back and that’s taken about 3 years so far." |
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"I’ve got a background at art school – graphic design at Rochdale College, but John learnt from Long John Silver, who apprenticed him in Blackburn working within the British Guild of Tattooing. If you want to start you need to get an apprenticeship – find someone who trusts you and is prepared to help you develop – and not run away and compete. "
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"A lot of the businesses on the street are doing themselves up now and we’re trying that as well. The location of the studio is good, especially as the street is being done up, we will probably attract more people from the town centre, especially when the tram comes. We work into the evenings quite often, sometimes to appointment and I think that Drake Street could benefit from focusing on leisure - more restaurants maybe. There’s a mystique about tattooing. Unless you’ve been inside a studio you don’t really know what goes on, so on the whole we get pretty much ignored by the broader developments round here, but we’re doing well, building a reputation both locally and nationally. "
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