ABOUT ME
I'm originally from Bucks County, PA, now living in Philadelphia and working in Berwyn. I'm a second-generation tattooer, and I did my first tattoo on my father (and mentor) when I was thirteen. I've worked in 12 states and 2 countries, so far. This industry has been a part of me for as long as I can remember, but if I'm truly honest, I feel like I'm just now making myself a part of the industry.
It was my dad who was a part of the industry, and I was just his kid. They called him "Trip" and that was accurate. He carved out a space for himself from nothing. I didn't even have to look for an apprenticeship. I was forced into one! It's the closest tattooing can get to nepotism without him having gifted me a shop. And, I didn't really even want to be there.
He was a beautiful human, but not always a great guy. He was also the most motivated and capable person I've ever known. As a father, he was very loving. As a mentor and a boss, he was rough. At both, hey was completely self-taught, and so there are things he was sure of that were entirely wrong. Some of those lessons have taken longer to unlearn than others, and like everyone, I'm a work in progress. I'm better off than he was at my age, and have been at any age, thanks to him.
I closed that shop, turned a van into an RV, packed my life into it, and headed (North, but then eventually,) West, into places I'd never been to see what I could find. I did a series of spontaneous guest spots in various towns and cities across the country, and learned from some great tattooers along the way. I also learned that I had things to teach them, and that I wasn't just guessing after all. I eventually landed in San Diego, where I went to work for a shop in Pacific Beach. When the owner wanted to open a second location, I helped him finish it, and became the manager there. I learned from some truly incredible tattooers there, too, and finally started to see tattooing as more than just a way to pay my bills.
Then the pandemic.
Turns out, I'm not a beach guy. Without tattooing, there was absolutely nothing in San Diego for me. I missed the Appalachians. The trees and the waterfalls. The familiar animals. So I came home.
Ever since I had settled in San Diego and moved on from the van/RV, I had been periodically flying home for guest spots at a phenomenal shop I couldn't believe would have me. When I moved home, I started tattooing there full time. Most of the clients I flew home for were good friends who had old work of mine that I didn't feel good about. I spent many hours with many of them, reworking and covering things I did at a time when I had limited understanding, or that I just hadn't put my all into. (If anyone reading this still has a piece by me you'd like fixed or covered, just let me know, and we'll handle it!) It also just so happened that my new shop in Philly was widely known for cover-ups. It wasn't long before people were bringing me more and more interesting challenges, and I've since comfortably settled, for the first time, into what I think is my niche.
Tattooing is self-expression. If your tattoo isn't expressing you properly, let me know, and we'll make it fit you like your skin should. If you'd like to design something that doesn't involve a cover-up, of course I'm happy to discuss whatever you have in mind! I love pet portraits, and really anything with plants and/or animals. I have a special love for nature-scapes of all kinds, too.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to working with you!
That said, it's probably irresponsible to let any thirteen year old tattoo, and it was definitely irresponsible to let me. I wanted nothing to do with it, but working for my dad after school was something I had done since I was seven. It was part of my chore list. I tattooed sporadically at best, mostly on family friends, until I was 16. In full rebellion against my biker tattooer dad, I decided to focus 100% of my time and energy on sports and school! Dedicated to being normal intentionally in spite of him, I spent one year at Drexel, which was all it took to realize I was unprepared for (and completely unfamiliar with) the life I thought I wanted.
Then, tattooing became a thing I did on the side for extra money when I needed it, until I slowly realized that it was the best way I knew how to make money. So I went back to work for my dad. Our relationship went right back to the same dynamic we both hated, so we worked in different shops (he owned three at that point) and didn't see each other. That made it hard to learn anything from him. Now that I wanted to actually get better at tattooing, all I had were the memories of the lessons I couldn't have cared less about at the time. Eventually I had to move on, and worked for a series of bikers in shops that felt too familiar. So, I went and opened my own shop.
It was there that I started to figure out what "my way" looked like in this industry. I brought on artists who were better than I was and looking to break into tattooing, and I parroted on to them the memories of the lessons from my father while I soaked up the way they designed and drew. I'm thankful that they are dedicated enough to have turned those lessons into fruitful careers as phenomenal tattooers, but those first two apprentices taught me more than I taught them. Once they got the hang of it, they each moved on to places where they could learn more and progress further. I did the same, in my own way.
Artistically, I've never had one. My mother was the artist. My dad was a mechanic, truly. A biker/ motorcycle mechanic, print press operator/ mechanic, and then tattoo machine builder/operator. He was always better at the building and fixing than the using. I never learned how to draw other than by copying. If I copy 1000 roses, 100 different styles 10 times each, by the end, I'm better at drawing a rose, and the rose I draw is somewhere in the middle of those 100 styles. I've been doing this long enough now that I've accumulated a lot of experience in a lot of different styles. I have done solid blackouts, tribal, fine-line, stippling, no-line, color realism, new school, traditional, geometric, biomechanical, three-dimensional, and just about anything else you can think of. Some styles come more naturally than others, but none of them are "my style."
That happens to suit cover-ups perfectly! Every one is different. You want to cover old dark unreadable Polynesian tribal with a new and crisp version? A whole 90s tribal sleeve with color realism? Color with a black a grey tattoo? Something dark with something lighter? Something scarred? I've done it, successfully and well, and I share photos of the work fully healed. Whatever the puzzle, I'll figure out the proper pieces and arrangement to make it look perfect. No matter the style, no matter how many people have told you it's impossible, no matter how big it is, or where it's placed, we can sit down together and figure out dozens of potential ways to cover it, and take whichever path is best for you.
For inquiries or to schedule a consultation for your next tattoo, feel free to get in touch.
I am passionate about bringing your tattoo ideas to life.