{"id":9,"date":"2010-11-05T13:55:30","date_gmt":"2010-11-05T19:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=9"},"modified":"2010-11-26T16:24:05","modified_gmt":"2010-11-26T22:24:05","slug":"press","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/press\/","title":{"rendered":"Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Iron Age Featured in Inked Mag’s “Inked Spots”<\/h4>\n

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When tattoo veterans Brad Fink and Mark Andrews decided to open Iron Age Tattoo in 1994, they modeled the new shop after a place most people hate\u2014the dentist.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we opened, there were only nine shops in the St. Louis area, and they were all older and dingier,\u201d Andrews explains over the sound of music and buzzing needles. \u201cWe wanted something clean and modern. It seems obvious now, but very few shops were going for that look back then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrews and Fink set up Iron Age on Missouri\u2019s hippest street, the Delmar Loop, and the shop\u2019s approach and crew of skilled artists have helped them stay at the forefront of the St. Louis scene, even as competition has exploded around them over the past decade and a half. \u201cI haven\u2019t even counted this year, but there were more than 30 shops last year,\u201d Andrews syas. \u201cTattoo imagery is used everywhere now. I\u2019m sure its popularity will wax and wane, but tattoos are embedded in our society now. It\u2019s not quite as fringe.\u201d To keep up with the shop\u2019s popularity, Iron Age, which started with just four artists in a 700-square-foot space, now employs 15 tattooists in a 1,800-foot set-up that\u2019s almost always full, especially on weekends.<\/p>\n

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Fink witnessed this evolution of tattooing firsthand. The veteran tattooer got started when he was in high school, doing work on local kids in the kitchen of his St. Louis home. Over the past two decades he has seen a lot about tattooing change, especially in his home city. \u201cYears ago I used to have to convince people to get shit,\u201d Fink explains. \u201cI would do larger tattoos for next to nothing just to get to do it. Now, people are really educated. I don\u2019t have to convince anyone to get the big, fun stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Although known for his large-scale, Japanese-inspired work, Fink doesn\u2019t have to be convinced to change up styles. \u201cTo this day I\u2018ll still do tribal armbands, or quarter-sized hearts,\u201d Fink says sincerely. \u201cA lot of these people that I tattooed 20 years ago still want me to tattoo them again, and I respect that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fink also co-owns two shops on New York City\u2019s ink-soaked Lower East Side, Daredevil and Fun City. He says the differences between the New York and St. Louis scenes have faded over time, they haven\u2019t vanished completely. \u201cSt. Louis is much more of a walk-in-type situation. Most customers in New York come in with a definite idea and intention. Here, a lot of people just come in to pick something off the wall. They just want to get tattooed.\u201d<\/p>\n

To accommodate the walk-in mentality in St. Louis, the Iron Age staff works walk-in only on Saturdays and Sundays. \u201cIt\u2019s good for the customers,\u201d Andrews explains, \u201cbecause they can walk in knowing they\u2019re going to get good work from an Iron Age artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

A weekend of walk-in customers means artists have to be prepared to tattoo anything on anyone. \u201cWe tattoo everybody,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cWe don\u2019t cater to the cool tattoo guy over the middle-aged mom who\u2019s coming in to get a piercing.<\/p>\n

Andrews, who has all but stopped tattooing to focus more on the business side, knows that Iron Age\u2019s atmosphere is part of the shop\u2019s success and doesn\u2019t worry about tattoo culture selling its soul just yet. \u201cThere\u2019s still a guild or even a family-like feel with artists,\u201d Andrews says. \u201cA person who just one day says, \u2018I think I\u2019ll open a tattoo shop\u2019 is going to have a really hard time getting artists to work for him. Tattooing has come a long way, but I don\u2019t think the world is ready for the Starbucks of tattoos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iron Age Featured in Inked Mag’s “Inked Spots” When tattoo veterans Brad Fink and Mark Andrews decided to open Iron Age Tattoo in 1994, they modeled the new shop after a place most people hate\u2014the dentist. \u201cWhen we opened, there were only nine shops in the St. Louis area, and they were all older and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-9","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":435,"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9\/revisions\/435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ironagetattoo.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}