I’d love to get something from Boris, Kahn Tofi. Some big targets currently are Filip Leu who is up for adding a design next to his friend Tin Tin’s but I need to go to Switzerland – I might just have to turn up on his doorstep! Nikko Hurtardo says he’s up for adding a piece but again he’s hard to tie down. I got over 125 comments with atleast 200 artists tagged, it’s taken me hours just to look at their profiles let alone start contacting them. I’ve had to stop talking about new artists! I put out a post on International Woman’s Day recently asking for recommendations of female artists as I’m embarrassingly low on woman tattoo artists compared to men. It also gets longer every time I go for a session and the artist I’m working with starts recommending their friends and peers. With Instagram people’s work is so accessible, it’s crazy – my wish list gets bigger everyday. You’ve got some amazing work from some incredible artists, who else is on your list? My list is endless. All bar none have completely nailed it too! It’s been fun to see seasoned, highly talented artists freak out about what they are going to do in such a small space. But honestly I love that I don’t know what design I’m going to get when I wake up on the morning of getting a new tattoo or even when I’m walking into the studio – sometimes even when they are starting the tattoo! It’s my experience and I think a universal understanding that you definitely get an artist’s best work if you allow them the freedom to do something they like doing or that challenges them. We usually talk about their options and they ask my opinion. My wife, Dawn came up with the hexagon shape so that they tessellate.ĭo you go to tattooists with a design or let them have free reign with the space? No I give them complete free reign. Whilst discussing with my wife this morphed into what it is today. My first (probably bad) idea, was to get the logo of the shop tattooed in a circle on my leg, like a passport stamp. How did your hexagon project come about? I travel a lot with work and a few years ago whilst on a long trip taking in NYC, LA, New Zealand, Oz and Singapore I starting thinking that it would be cool to mark each country or city I go to with a tattoo from a local shop. Something that 22 years and over 60 tattoos later I understand was the start of an addition and calling. I think it must have been a rebellion thing but I was just drawn to it. I lived in a provincial town in the UK and in 1997 there was no one I knew or anyone I was even at school with that had a tattoo. What inspired you to get tattooed in the first place? I don’t really remember what inspired me to get a tattoo. It was a tiny piece of terrible tribal flash on my arm, which has since been covered by a slightly less terrible tribal wrap around which I got a few years later in Thailand. What was your first tattoo and how old were you? I got my first tattoo when I was 17, yes I lied that I was 18. We caught up with Martin to find out more about his inspiring tattoo collection and the thinking behind it… An enterprise that starts life as simple outlines of hexagons that are then filled by various tattoo artists from around the world. Martin Dobson is a self-confessed tattoo addict and owner of the incredible hexagon tattoo project.
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