Every Friday Suzie Barrie goes to her local tattoo studio, Muscle and Ink in New Zealand for a new temporary tattoo.
For the past few months Suzie, who has Down’s Syndrome, has been taking a pack of temporary tattoo designs and tattooist Jason Ward applies them for her, like he would a regular tattoo – he even wears gloves.
At first Jason thought it was a one time thing, but Suzie hasn’t missed a week since she first went in and when she has time she gets more than one design.
The first time she came in, she just walked in, slapped a couple of stick-on tattoo packets on the desk and asked me to put them on her arm. I said, ‘what?’ And she said it again so I sat her down and put them on… But if she was a member of my family and she had have walked into another tattoo shop and they had told her to bugger off, I’d be angry. Why would you say no? You should treat everybody the same.
Established in October 2014, Redwood Tattoo Studio is already carving out a name for itself in the city of Manchester. The studio is home to four custom tattoo artists, each with their own style of artwork. A hand-picked, close-knit team that are as dedicated to the design stage, as they are with the quality of the final tattoo.
Chelsea Ladish specialises predominantly in watercolour and line-based pieces, Lauren Sutton in unique geometric and custom dotwork. Kieran Barnard translates his beautiful sketches onto the skin with bold lines complimenting the fluidity of his designs, and last but certainly not least, Chris Green is producing piece after piece of consistently solid neo-traditional.
With an underground vibe, Redwood is proving to be a new little gem in the already diverse and popular Northern Quarter. All enquiries can be made to redwoodtattoostudio@gmail.com or 0161 258 9252.
INTERVIEW WITH CHELSEA LADISH:
How did you get into tattooing? Becoming a tattoo artist is something that happened pretty organically for me. I have always had a healthy interest in the art of tattoos, and started my personal collection at the age of 19. It wasn’t until I was working in Brisbane, Australia, that I met the man who would eventually train me. I had booked into Westside tattoo studio, in the West End there, and chosen Lawrence Hocking to do my souvenir tattoo. I actually had to cancel my original appointment because I was moving home to England to drum for a band down south, but he overheard me chatting to the receptionist and managed to squeeze me in on his day off! I’ll always be thankful for that, because after leaving the band a year later, he offered me an apprenticeship at his new studio, Seventh Circle. I was incredibly lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful, dedicated artists. He took a chance on me, and I still appreciate that every day.
Backpiece by Chelsea Ladish
How would you describe your style? If I were to say I had a particular style, it would be a mixture of watercolour and lowbrow. I tend to use a lot of watercolour and black inks on my paintings, and that has bled across into the way I tattoo. I’m pretty changeable though, and like to try new things. I like that when artists develop as individuals, and experience different things in their own lives , it can be seen in what they create.
Robin Williams by Chris Green
How long have you been tattooing for? I have been tattooing since the summer of 2009.
Dotwork Raccoon by Lauren Sutton
Where do you get your inspiration from? I often get inspiration from the people that I surround myself with. I think on a personal level, I also draw inspiration from nostalgia, and the places that I have been/people that I’ve met along the way, fragments of time. I’ve always been quite wrapped up in keeping time. Journals, excessive amounts of photographs, all the good stuff. If you pay attention to these things, they can offer an infinite level of inspiration. There’s a richness to the small things that can often be overlooked. On a more superficial level, the artwork of bands that I loved growing up (particularly DEVO), skateboard culture graphics, 80’s popular culture and film, lowbrow artists such as Robert Crumb… I have a lot of time for Robert Crumb.
Inverted shaded skull by Kieran Barnard
If you weren’t a tattoo artist, what else would you be? There are a lot of things I’d like to try. I’d like a restaurant, the kind with a Cheers vibe, where everybody knows your name. I’d also get a huge kick out of making documentaries. Learning about different cultures and lifestyles for a living. I can definitely think of worse things.
