THE BLACK HAT TATTOO
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One of my favourite parts of writing about tattoos and tattoo culture is learning about different shops and tattoo artists from around the world. I have a special treat for you as I shine a light on a great shop with a wonderful work ethic and mindset – not to mention talented artists and a shop manager with a cute French accent (swoon) located in Dublin Ireland. When I first took a look at The Black Hat Tattoo I immediately wanted to go visit and check it out in person. The team from The Black Hat was kind enough to answer a few questions – with several team members chiming in. Of course, I encourage you to read their answers while imagining their gorgeous accents. So if you are lucky enough to be in their part of the world or attending a convention they are at I encourage you to make an appointment for some excellent ink. The Black Hat will be attending The Dublin Tattoo Convention in August 2018 sooooooo, I’m off to price flights to the Emerald Isle
Tattoo Tourist: How long has The Black Hat Tattoo been open? How did it come about?
The Black Hat: The Black Hat Tattoo is open for 2 years – It came from the will of Sergy and Lena to work together (partner at work and partners in life).
TT: How long have you been tattooing? How did you get started?
TBH: Sergy has been tattooing for 20 years. Sergy has drawn since he can hold a pen. He started in Russia with mates asking him to reproduce on their skins the drawings he made. Sergy started out by making his own tattoo machine.
Lena (shop manager): I do not tattoo, I draw and paint a lot, for custom designs when a customer wants to get one of my drawings on his skin. I am happy this way and I am not willing to take the tattoo leap.
Ceri has been doing Handpoke tattoos for 6 months.
TT: Who are some of your biggest inspirations artistically?
James : Each Oldschool tattoo artist is an inspiration for him. James draws every day and chooses to paint by using tattoo ink to be closest as possible to the colours and effect that will do on the skin.
Ceri: does not really have a biggest inspiration yet.
TT: What are your favourite styles to tattoo?
TBH: Sergy : After 20 years, Sergy can tattoo everything – He really enjoys Blackwork, Realistic Black and Gray and Neotraditional (Black and Gray)
James : James is totally crazy about the freedom and the rules of the American Traditional / Old school style. He gets his inspiration from the various timeless and traditional styles.
Ceri : Fine Line Handpoke
TT: What is the tattoo culture/scene like in Dublin?
TBH: Lena : Busy and challenging – There are 200 tattoo studios and 2000 artists. A huge amount of scratchers and tattoos are done at home or in low hygienic conditions. We are lucky that our customers recognize quality and artistic work and it helps us to keep going with our shop.
Sergy : We have customers from all over Europe living and working in Ireland or visiting every year. You can add people from the US and you see that we tattoo people from all around the world. It is amazing to see and work with such different nationalities and cultures. It’s really rich for work opportunities
James : Most of the tattoo places are small, only a few offer more than one artistic style. There is an important customer base for Oldschool Tattoos and that’s a good point for me.
Ceri : In Ireland, there is a tattoo studio on every street. Best shops are located in the city centre.
TT: What is your favourite part of running a shop/being a tattoo artist?
TBH: Lena: The challenge and the creativity, you have to work hard to drive a studio and being creative is mandatory to prepare for the future of the studio and the future of tattooing in Dublin.
Sergy : Being independent and working for myself, even with the responsibilities that belong to the business owners. I am really happy to drive well a project like we’ve done the past two years.
James : It is good to work in a shop like
The Black Hat Tattoo, as a resident artist I have the opportunity to grow and learn a lot. The studio welcome guests mostly from Europe and It is nice to learn from them. There is a lot of tattoo shops in Dublin but not all of them are as artistic as The Black Hat Tattoo. I enjoy the Art Classes we have twice a month to improve our skills in live model drawing and painting.
Ceri : I am not a morning person, I am at my best from 12 pm to 9 pm so working in a Tattoo studio is really the job for me. It’s a good place to work with Sergy and Lena.
TT: What are your plans for The Black Hat Tattoo ? (conventions, guest spots, etc.)
TBH: The Dublin Tattoo Convention in August 2018, keep going with our values and working hard, we would like to welcome two more resident artists in 2018 and 2019.
TT: What do you want to tell potential clients about your shop/artists?
TBH: We are a collective of artists who collaborate together in the pursuit of the same values.
We believe that tattooing is an art and has to be done with the respect of the customer and the artist.
We believe that every passion leads to excellence and we at The Black Hat Tattoo Studio work only to reach this excellence.
We care about the quality of our work, from the inks and materials we use to the respect of a strict hygienic process in order to provide high quality, unique and custom tattoos.
We collaborate with some of the worlds best artists either as residents or guest artists in our studio situated in the heart of Dublin.
We care for our customers from the very first step into our studio until the completion of the tattoo process.
No matter if your tattoo is big or small each piece is special for us, we know that a tattoo is a big commitment and we are happy to help our customers build their projects.
We are always available to answer all of the questions you may have and welcome you for a consultation in a warm and friendly environment.
Well if you are not already googling flights to Ireland what are you waiting for? And if you are lucky enough to live near Dublin and The Black Hat Tattoo Studio then go treat yourself to an excellent tattoo in a professional environment run by a group of true artists and professionals. And tell them The Tattoo Tourist says hi. And make Lena say something in her French accent.
A big THANK YOU to the team at The Black Hat for answering my questions! Sláinte
The post The Black Hat Tattoo Studio – An Artistic Gem in Dublin Ireland appeared first on The Tattoo Tourist.
