Wild Ink Tattoo Studio: Breaking the stereotype
BELLEVILLE, Ont. (02/15/13) – Wild Ink Studio is filled with art including this sign of their name.
By: Megan Mattice
The lights turn on at 11am and Wild Ink Tattoo Studio is officially open for business.
The ink tables are prepped, and sterilization complete, now the staff await their first appointments of the day.
At first entrance to the building, an array of artwork fills the walls accompanied by the warm glow of a dimly lit first place. The statues of Buddha, and beautiful Chinese symbols, put a nervous mind at ease.
Manager, Juliano Akleh says that when it comes to his customers, from the moment they walk in the studio, to when their artwork is finished or they’ve been pierced, the attention remains on them and their needs.
The importance of respect for Akleh comes from a history of working with people and a great role model. His father founded Wild Ink Tattoo Studios back in 1998.
Akleh explains that his father, Ray, has always been the “working man” type.
At first, Mr. Akleh tried running a convenience store and when that didn’t work out he moved onto a restaurant. That business idea didn’t pan out either. That’s when the idea for a tattoo shop came to mind.
Starting in Oshawa, the first shop really took off. That’s when Mr. Akleh decided to expand to a second shop, then a third and eventually to a total of seven tattoo shops.
The most recent shop to open is their first international location in Aruba, an island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea just off the north coast of Venezuela.
The decision to open a shop up in Aruba was for two reasons, because the Akleh’s always vacation there and to see if the success would continue internationally, which it has.
Akleh grew up in his father’s tattoo shops and got his first tattoo at the age of 16, so he is very aware of the stereotype behind the idea of people getting ink on their bodies.
“I used to get my tattoos in places where I could hide them because that way I would surpass judgment, but the older I got I realized something not a lot of people realize. Tattoos are the purest form of art,” says Akleh.
John Ricci, an artist at the studio who has been tattooing fulltime for almost a year, also recognizes the stereotype but believes the opinion differs with each individual.
“I’ve been tattooing myself and our other artist, Ben Coles, since I was 16, so I’m aware. It’s going to be there for a long time, but it has come a long way. The stereotype is definitely not as thick as it used to be,” says Ricci.
Wild Ink Studios is also trying to break the stereotype by showing clients and the community about the careful steps they take to keep their shop sterile.
Akleh and the other employees make sure that’s the first thing they do for the client, show that the tools they’re using come packaged and will only be used for this specific tattoo.
“That’s the problem these days with artists tattooing out of their bedrooms, I’m not saying there is anything wrong with it, but a tattoo is almost like a medical procedure. A client should be confident that infections won’t happen,” says Akleh.
Coles, the other artist at the studio, agrees with Akleh when it comes to cleanliness and trust.
“Something that people really need to think about, there’s a reason for a tattoo at a shop to cost $100 and someone’s friend of a friend will do it for $20, cause the shop has to add in the costs of everything needed to make sure your tattoo is done right, safe, and in a clean environment,” says Coles.
Tattooing for seven year, Coles has created a good reputation but unfortunately was almost rendered unable to tattoo.
“I tattooed for a few years until I ended up having an “accident” that almost killed me. I was told I might not be able to keep my arm, and if I did, I wouldn’t be able to use or feel my hand again. I pretty much had to make a decision to ether find something else that I was able to do for a career, or be committed to tattooing,” says Coles.
After his accident, Coles didn’t tattoo for months, but he was trying to teach himself how to write and draw with his ring and pinky finger.
“About four years later I still can’t feel my index finger and thumb, but I still use my pinkie finger to tattoo,” explains Coles.
“Now since I’ve been doing it for so long, I’ve realized that there’s a lot of advantages because of how I hold the machine, even though I don’t recommend anyone trying to tattoo like that.
“I was committed in what I wanted to do with my life, and now after years of hard work, I look at this as a blessing rather then an accident. I might not be sitting in Wild Ink in Aruba writing this if it didn’t happen,” says Coles.
When it comes to Belleville, Wild Ink sees the tattoo culture growing day by day.
“We have a larger amount of people coming into the shop every day, and it’s not a certain demographic either. I’ve tattooed people ages from 18, because that’s the youngest age we will tattoo here, to an 87 year old man,” says Ricci.
Matt Berry, a Loyalist student, believes tattoos and the culture are becoming a lot more common among young people.
“I do see a lot of people with tattoos in my work field. I work in the human services field and that field never really cared about tattoos, so it seems,” says Berry.
Lyndsay Kerik, employment and career advisor at Loyalist, says that just because it’s more common to have tattoo doesn’t mean it’s accepted in every work industry.
“We here at the Career Center advise students to cover tattoos during the interviewing process for a potential job just to stop any discrimination that may occur,” says Kerik.
Akleh says he finds that over the years, the type of people who are getting tattoos is changing.
“We’ve tattooed people considered high-class, such as doctors, lawyers, nurses and banking investors, so acceptance is happening even if it is at a slow rate,” says Akleh.
Akleh, Ricci and Coles all agree that the dedication and passion for the art, and the work put into it, creates a family bond between the artists.
“We all have our own little quirks that separates us from other artists, but genuinely we all want the same thing which is to work I a field we love creatively. People see our passion,” says Ricci.
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