Garth's Tattoo Studio

Location: Deal, Kent, U.K. Instagram: @garthstattoos Facebook: @garthstattoos Web: kenttattooartists.co.uk

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P&KG’s Grace sat down with Garth, the owner behind ‘Garth’s Tattoo Studio’ and talked all things ink.

Grace: How did you get into tattooing?

Garth: Just by chance really. I was drawing at home, I took my drawings to an artist, I ended up becoming pals with him and we opened a shop, it’s as simple as that. The old way of doing it.

Grace: What tattoos are the most interesting for you to work on, what do you enjoy doing most?

Garth: For me, Japanese koi and chicano girls and the whole chicano style. I do so much of it that it just comes naturally. I know exactly what I’m doing and I can draw it on. You get some stuff where a customer comes in with an idea in their head and it’s not quite as easy to establish what they actually want.

Grace: And do a lot of customers come in with a firm idea of what they want, or do you often help them shape it?

Garth: The way it’s gone, there’s nothing on paper anymore. It sounds bad but they’re either taking something off the internet which we won’t do, or they’ve got an idea inside their head and you’ve got to pull it out because they’ve never got anything to actually show you. They’ll come in with almost like a shopping list. It’s changed a lot, years ago we had lots of pictures and artwork on the walls. I’ve still got them but they’re all in books collecting dust because no-one looks at it anymore.

Grace: I know you’ve got a team of tattooists in your studio; how did they all come to you?