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The global tattoo industry is predicted to reach nearly $4bn in worth by 2030, as the days of back-alley shops and hardcore clientèle give way to an ever-growing market of studios and customers to fill them.
Express spoke to some of the local artists about how the business of skin and ink has evolved in recent years...
Pictured: Travis Cracknell has been tattooing since 2017.
Travis has been running his Seven Tides Tattoo business above the Chaos game store opposite the market since 2022.
He has been tattooing since 2017, after his extensive background in illustration and design drove him to take up an apprenticeship at another local studio.
"Seven Tides started from me wanting to approach tattooing from a different perspective. I wanted to be able to give my clients much more of a one-on-one service instead of just being in the studio with lots of people.
"I personally think that studios will be downsizing – when I first started, the studio I worked in had eight people and then it reduced. As the years go on, we will probably find that studios will have maybe one or two people, instead of four or five – just so you can give your client much more of that one-on-one kind of service," he explained.
Pictured: Travis has been running his Seven Tides Tattoo business above the Chaos game store opposite the market since 2022.
"I think you'll see that shift and that change because people want to feel more valued in the studio and I think they want to have that one-on-one connection. Also, because people are spending a lot of money, they want to get what they're paying for [in terms of] that service."
Practising what he preaches, Travis is the only artist in his studio – although he sometimes has guest artists come over for a few weeks.
"I have a lot of recurring clients and I also like to spend a lot of time with them and come up with designs," he explained.
But does this approach present extra challenges when it comes to running a studio?
Well, as far as running costs go, Travis believes he faces similar hurdles to those influencing the bottom line of many other small businesses – namely, rent and equipment.
"Definitely rent is incredibly difficult for anyone on the island. Something needs to change because it's incredibly difficult for a small business to keep expanding.
"Costs are rising all the time, like equipment, and I think one massive issue is bringing stuff into the island. Things like customs clearances and the cost of GST – I regularly order kit for my studio for me to be able to do my tattoos, but I'm paying fees on top of that and it just keeps going up and up.
"Then obviously you have all these little underlying costs like your water, wifi and electricity."
Pictured: "People want to feel more valued in the studio and I think they want to have that one-on-one connection".
Trying to budget around set costs can sometimes be difficult in a business where every transaction – and the income it generates – is unique, he added.
"You can have a situation where a client is coming in for a day session, but he's only got halfway through the day and can't finish his session because he's finding it too painful. Do you charge him for that? I don't think you do charge him for that because he can come back and have that done at another time. So we charge for the amount of hours he has sat. That's my way of approaching it."
He agreed that the local tattoo scene has picked up pace over the years – and added that greater regulation would go some way to ensuring a good standard of studios in the island.
"There are more shops, more artists and more apprentices. I think one issue, especially in Jersey, is that there needs to be more regulation on the apprentices coming in and who's bringing them in. It should be harder to get into the industry, you should have to jump through more hoops and there should be more qualifications that you should have to have underneath your belt before you come in.
"Not necessarily artistic ones, but qualifications focusing on the clinical and cleanliness side of things that you should have to get before you can open a studio or start tattooing – to make sure that it's done properly."
This, he added, is an area in which Jersey's tattoo industry falls "massively" behind.
"There needs to be more regulation on who's setting up shops, there needs to be more regulation on who's bringing people into the industry and more regulation on artists themselves – because it's such a high-risk thing."
Pictured: Gareth Thomas has more than two decades' experience in the tattoo industry.
Gareth is among the island's more experienced tattoo artists, having spent more than two decades' in the industry – including the 10 years he has been running Monsters Ink.
This is evidenced by the swathes of memorabilia, collectables, artwork and pop culture references proudly displayed across the walls and shelves of his studio – or, if you ask Gareth, "all the stuff my girlfriend doesn't let me have in the flat".
"Some people buy me little quirky gifts. When I first started tattooing, I traded loads of stuff for tattoos. I have had people in the past say, 'I want a tattoo but I don't have the money', and if they were collectors of things that I'd like, I'd say, 'Oh, I'll trade you for that.' I've just ended up with loads of stuff."
Pictured: Swathes of memorabilia, collectables, artwork and pop culture references line the walls and shelves of Monsters Ink.
When Gareth first started, there were only around three shops in the island.
"Now, I think there's eight or nine shops over probably like 15 or 20 tattooists. It's changed massively.
"I think the major shift is the accessibility to tattoo equipment and information. When I started, we had no internet. The only way you could order stuff was to be part of a tattoo shop. Companies used to only send items out, whether it'd be a tattoo machine, tattoo needles, inks – to a registered tattoo shop. So, if you didn't have a registered tattoo shop, you couldn't get any supplies.
"Same with apprenticeships – you had to physically go into a shop and have an apprenticeship. But now there's so much information that's accessible – whether it be through an online tutorial, YouTube video, whatever it may be. If there's something you're not sure of, you can probably find it on the internet somewhere."
This may not necessarily be good news, however, with Gareth claiming the local market has become "over-saturated".
"The problem is a lot of apprentices will do a year or two years, maybe have a fall-out at a studio, leave and then open another studio.
"The other thing I've noticed over the last few years is that, unfortunately, there's some tattoo shops that have just taken on apprentice after apprentice because they see it as a way to make money – because obviously you're taking a cut. It's usually a 50/50 split, so you're actually making quite good money.
"The downside is now we've got around nine tattoo shops, 20 to 30 artists on an island that has only got a population of 100,000."
Pictured: "I think the major shift is the accessibility to tattoo equipment and information".
He also explained that the rise of online "intensive" tattoo courses had bolstered the problem.
"If you had a Porsche and a mechanic said to you, 'I've done a four-day course', would you let you them do an engine job? I would want someone with years of experience who has learnt to actually love doing the job and doing it right. That's my opinion."
Like Travis, Gareth was quick to identify rent and equipment as some of his more costly expenses – with the combined total sometimes adding up to between £2,500 or £3,000 per month.
"But then some months you're buying loads of stuff and then that will see through a few months where you're not really buying any stuff – and then you'll have another big purchase," he explained.
"For example, I've got a tattoo machine that probably cost me about £1,000, but fingers crossed that machine will last me five or six years."
Pictured: Rent and equipment can add up to thousands of pounds in monthly costs.
Some equipment has risen in price however, such as PPE – which Gareth said went "through the roof" as a result of the covid pandemic.
"Gloves for example, they used to be £2.50 a box. Now they're £8 pound a box. The prices went up during covid because of the shortage and then it just never went down. People were obviously paying it because it was a necessity needed to work, so it wasn't like you could work without gloves. You didn't really have that option."
So how much do tattoos actually cost? And what is the mark-up?
Gareth said that he charges a minimum cost of £50, but larger pieces can cost several-hundred pounds depending on how much time they require.
"Even if you wanted a dot, it's going to cost you £50 because it still costs us £35 to set up," he explained.
Pictured: Silvia Kereki works at Beneath the Surface tattoo studio.
Silvia is still fairly new to the industry, having taken over her shop – which opened in 2018 – with a colleague in April of this year.
"Since I started, tattoos have become increasingly popular and widely accepted by society. There is no longer a stigma attached to tattoos. People are open more to the artistic part of the tattoo, with larger scale. Even tattoo artists are more friendly and approachable," she said.
In Silvia's studio, staff receive their training and qualifications while spending a certain amount of time on the shop floor.
"For example, we have two apprentices that started last year in August and this month they will both receive their qualification. They started by learning about the shop as a business, all the equipment, as well the health and safety procedures.
"The next stage was learning about tattoo designs, how to get ready for a tattoo session, [learning to] tattoo on fake skin to understand more about the application and techniques. The next stage would be tattooing friends and family with no charge and once they feel comfortable (after two or three months) to do small, simple tattoos under supervision."
Pictured: "Tattoos have become increasingly popular and widely accepted by society".
This way, those learning the trade are able to start building up their portfolio at the same time.
"Once we believe they are ready to tattoo with no supervision, we certify them as fully trained without supervision. This is a job that you can't learn in a short period of time. It takes many years of experience to learn and fully understand the whole process of tattooing on human skin."
Again, rent and bills were cited as the bulk of the studio's costs – noticing a theme yet?
"These are shared equally between the artists. Most of the equipment, ink, needles, etcetera would be purchased by the artist themselves," Silvia added.
"After covid, at the same time our renewed lease was signed, our rent increased and our equipment became more expensive."
Silvia specialises in realistic tattoos, but explained it can be hard to identify which styles have become more popular than others.
"Most of my clients prefer realistic work. My colleague Pedro would do more geometric tattoos, such as mandalas and dot-work. Some people will get a lot of very small simple tattoos.
"What's most important in my opinion, is that tattoo artists and people looking for tattoos should be more open-minded, and look for tattoos that are original and avoid copying something that they have seen on the internet or someone else's work. It's art."
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