It all began

with the art of becoming.

Fourteen years ago, I began an apprenticeship that would change the course of my life.

At the time, I had worked in a shop for two years in admin, but I don't think I fully understood what I was stepping into. I knew I wanted to tattoo. I knew I loved being tattooed, drawing, making things with my hands and the feeling of creating something that didn't exist before. But I didn't yet understand how much patience, discipline, humility and persistence this craft would ask of me.

My apprenticeship was where I learned that tattooing is so much more than putting an image onto flesh.

I was fortunate to learn from artists who had spent many years developing their own craft, and carried knowledge from their thread of teachers. I absorbed everything I could, including the criticism, the technical knowledge, the importance of cleanliness and precision, the patience required to make something well, and all the little things that aren't necessarily written down but are passed from one artist to another verbally.

I worked with a diverse range of people, in age and backgrounds, and a diverse public of people moved through the studio. I was astounded by stories. I had my perspective turned upside and inside out continually. I was enthralled in the fact that tattooing was a space where all walks of life came together for the love of self expression and art. And I held deep respect for the people who had carved out a space for it carefully.

There was so much to learn.

And there still is.

I think that is one of the things I love most about tattooing. You never really arrive. There is always another technique to explore, another style to understand, another way to improve your line, your composition, your understanding of skin. Fourteen years in, I still find myself learning. The caveat is this is also the hardest aspect - because this honour and evolution is so important.

My early years were about finding my feet. My mentor pushed me to explore different styles, I felt continually challenged and slowly began to understand what kind of artist I wanted to become... And how best to serve my clients.
Over time, tattooing became less about proving what I could do and more about developing a relationship with the craft itself, with the client themself.

I began to understand that good tattooing is technical, where applied skill is so important.

And it’s also intuitive.

It’s the (sometimes painful) romance of being in a sub culture, a small industry. It’s having relationship with our community. It's listening to the person sitting across from you. It's understanding what they are really trying to express, sometimes before they even have the words for it.. Both mentors, fellow tattooers and clients alike.

Art school didn’t prepare me for these subtleties. My friends and family didn’t understand what I was trying to learn, or the deep journey I’d stepped into.
Hours of dedication, practice and artistic discipline meant my friendships with those who walked a more conventional path suffered, my career became my personal life, and thankfully the practice of yoga carried me through without becoming crushed under the pressure.

I think this subtlety of tattooing, and the fact it’s not a linear craft is what can make it the most beautiful, but also the hardest. A polarised industry, fractured values and customs that are at a liminal stage between worlds.

Some of the customs we inherited still hold deep value. Others no longer seem to serve the industry. New ideas are emerging, risks are being taken and old ideas are being questioned, and sometimes the two exist need to exist side by side in uncomfortable ways. Hopefully, we can merge it all into a more sustainable way of living this path.

Tattooing as a craft and practice

It became one of the ways I transformed myself, and I came to understand myself.

Creativity has always been potent essence of my life, but tattooing gave that creativity somewhere to live. It taught me discipline. It taught me patience. It taught me to sit with uncertainty and instability and keep going. It taught me that mastery isn't something you achieve once - it's something you continually move towards through countless hours of application.

Looking back and for where I’m at now, I feel an enormous amount of gratitude.

Gratitude for the artists who taught me.

For every person who trusted me enough to put my work on their skin and learn the subtle language of connection with other humans.

For the mistakes that made me better.

For the years of practice, the long days, the challenging pieces, the beautiful collaborations and all the moments in between.

And I'm grateful that after all these years, I still genuinely love tattooing.

My life has grown and changed in ways I couldn't have imagined when I first started my apprenticeship. My creativity has expanded beyond tattooing and into so many other parts of my life. But the foundations are still there… the discipline, the curiosity, the desire to make something meaningful with my hands.

— Estelle