Category: Features

We chat to 23-year-old Stefaine who works as a visual merchandiser at Tiger UK  in Canterbury, Kent about her beautiful traditional tattoo collection and her love for all things interior design… 

I begged for my first tattoo for about a year. I was the youngest in my group of friends outside of school, they all had tattoos and at sixteen I was desperate to get my first one.
I went into a shop in Margate,my dad was childhood friends with the owner. I remember walking in, it had wall to wall tradition old school designs. I picked a classic swallow. I think as I aged and I became more aware of the tattoo industry, especially through Instagram. I’ve since had it blasted over by the incredible Philip Yarnell, With a sombre looking cowgirl and I love it!

My mother was the first person to really open my eyes to tattoos, I distinctively remember her coming to my year six sports day with a fresh tattoo and thinking ‘this strong, beautiful woman is my mum and she has tattoos, what a badass’.
I feel tattoos have enhanced the love I have for my body. Every time I get tattooed I’m able to make a lifetime connection with an incredible person and artist. I started getting tattooed at a stage where your mind can very easily be warped by not always positive influences. Allowing outside negativity about my body is something I’ve always struggled with but as I’ve aged, with each new tattoo I’ve found an acceptance.

I have a real eclectic collection of work on me by some truly amazing people. Almost all of my tattoos are traditional/neo-traditional and mainly all in colour. Although I wouldn’t change that, I am always quite envious of people with all black work, it’s definitely a style I want more of going forward.
My good friend, Amy has done a majority of my work, we started as soon as I turned 18 and it’s been a pleasure seeing her grow in popularity and really push her distinct style. We recently put my beloved pooches portraits on my skin, I feel like it really helped me heal the grief I had in losing them.

I met Harriet Heath last year, I loved her style from day one. The last pieces she did for me was a kewpie Frida kahlo on me and a lucky black cat with a good luck swastika on the inner of my leg. She’s an amazing person and I really want more from her this summer!

Right now I’m between having day sessions to complete my woodland leg sleeve by Becca and finishing my knee by Aaroné Realmao. I feel very fortunate to be tattooed by these people. I’m always in awe when I see Aaroné free hand on designs. I think you have to put a lot of trust in someone to do that and it always pay off. I’m already thinking of what I want him to do once we finish my knee, his lady faces are stunning!

I started working at Tiger in 2014. Tiger is a Danish variety design store, it’s been dubbed the poshest, brightest, happiest pound shop in the land but it’s so much more than that. Tiger is a name play on ‘tier’, which is Danish slang for 10 kroner, the equivalent to £1.10. I was a Christmas temp for two of the company’s busiest months before being given a part time weekend job. I then began working my way up to a full time position as a visual merchandiser. I really do love my job and the team I work with are like a slightly dysfunctional second family to me.

I didn’t have any previous experience in retail or merchandising, I had worked in the nightclub industry for three years prior, although I loved that social scene at the time I knew I wanted something more creative. I’ve always had an eye for interior design. Visual merchandising at Tiger is like no other, the foundation of what you’re working with is very minimalistic, so the products speak for themselves.
Visual merchandising has given me the confidence boost I needed to pursue bigger goals, so I’m looking to do a silver smith course during the summer. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while so I’m excited for things to come.

At Tiger, merchandising involves the constant rotation of stock around the store to keep it ‘fresh’, in order to do this we group products by relevance and by use. In the summer we focus of children, so kids arts and crafts and toys will dominate the front of the shop. The development of planograms for tables and window displays are a critical part of being head VM, it’s really exciting to see the new products coming in for the monthly kamp! It’s definitely my favourite part of the job. We try to keep in mind what’s current right now, moustaches were a really big deal last year so our designs were focused on that. We use emotional attachment and retro music to build a positive shopping experience. To us customer experience is key.

Right now I’m responsible for stationary, adult/kids hobby and professional art. I’m a DIY fanatic, I thrive off creative ideas on how to use products not always how they’ve been intended for. We have such a high turn over of products, that displays need re-merching weekly. I find if i have a product that’s a slow seller, it often is down to placement, which is my job to recognise and change.

There’s no real dress code for work, we’re given a black t-shirt with our logo on it. Clothing has to be practical as there are some very manual aspects of my job. My go to outfit is a long sleeve black midi dress, with tights and boots. I’m quite reserved about all of my tattoos being on show, Canterbury is diverse but is still predominately middle class and being a young woman with a lot of visible tattoos I sometimes, rarely though, encounter sour opinions. I’m lucky though, Tiger embraces individuality and is probably the most laid back retail chain you’ll find on the high street. I’ve always said if I need to cover my tattoos, I’m happy to do that but I’ve never been asked to.

The end of last year I took the plunge and had my chin tattooed by my lovely friend, Kamila. It was a huge decision for me which I definitely didn’t take lightly. Its completely dotwork and it’s just so beautiful. I’ve had super positive feedback from customers, I get ‘that must of really hurt’ a lot and they’re always surprised when I tell them it didn’t, a little pinchy around the jaw but nothing too bad!

The most important thing to consider when getting tattooed is will this burden my pursuit for my dream job. I’ve always tried to live by if it makes you happy, do it. Sadly happiness doesn’t pay the bills every month! I think if you’re driven and passionate, I’d like to think your employer will look beyond being tattooed and see it doesn’t change your values or your work ethic. Society is changing, a lot of companies are realising there is a wide demographic they can appeal too by having (I hate to say it) ‘alternative’ looking employees. For a lot of high street retail , Topshop, Lush etc it’s ‘cool’ to be quirky and you’re more likely to get an interview if you have that edge about you.
That being said I feel there is still a bit of a shock factor when you see face tattoos, it won’t always be that way I’m sure but until you’re 100% certain of you career pathway I’d say hold off on anything that could hold you back. I don’t want to be defined by my tattoos, I want to defined by being a good person and a hard worker.