Tattoo artist Gigi (Heaji Choi) tattoos beautiful fine line tattoos from Monday Island, Seoul, South Korea. We love her one-liner tattoos and chatted to the artist about her style, journey into the tattoo world and inspirations…
How long have you been a tattoo artist?
I started tattooing in 2020, so three years now.
How did you become a tattoo artist?
I happened to see a video on YouTube where Doy, a Korean tattooist, was being interviewed about his job and life as a tattooer. Afterwards I did loads of research, searching for more information around this career. I thought it looked like an interesting career and so I began learning to tattoo.
What made you want to become one?
The act of leaving a meaningful and long-lasting piece of art on a person’s body was an attractive concept to me, it still is. That’s why I have always been respectful of tattooing and responsible.
What’s the best thing about your job?
I think meeting different people is the best thing. It is a wonderful and enjoyable experience when I meet not only Koreans but also guests from other countries
How would you describe your work?
I find the characteristics of a subject be it an object or person and express these using a flow of lines.
How do you do your one-line tattoos?
Sometimes the lines are quite complicated and the area and size of the tattoo is small, so I can’t exactly see the lines when I place a stencil. If I draw a line wrong even once, the drawing and tattoo might look a bit different. So I am often checking the design and tattoo while I work on it.
What inspires your designs?
I like to take a walk and listen to music. It seems I am inspired by seeing and feeling nature, observing objects and animals around me. Of course, I try to get inspiration by going to art galleries and exhibitions as well.
What do you like to tattoo? What would you like to do more of?
I like to make tattoos of nature, natural subjects and animals. This is what I usually do now, and I want to work on various topics in the future.
Do you have tattoos? Can you tell us about them?
I have a few small tattoos. Most of them are flowers and animals. I got some of them because they were made by my favourite artists, and I got some because I happened to see the design and I liked it so much. I love my tattoos so much!
What do you do when you’re not tattooing?
I like to do yoga. At first, I started doing it just for the physical benefit because I work a lot. But the more I did it, it seemed to help me mentally too, so it suits me really well.
What’s been your proudest career moment?
There’s one client I remember. She got a very meaningful phrase and image on her wrist. It was her first tattoo. She couldn’t take her eyes off it for a while after getting it tattooe. She was very moved and started crying, saying thank me so much.
That’s when I felt once again that this kind of work really does provide a really meaningful moment for people. Since then, I have become more serious about my work – I’m very proud to have this job.
Follow @gigi_tattooer for more adorable tattoos.
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