As a self-proclaimed "tattoo connoisseur," David Robinson has gotten tattoos all over the country and around the world. In the years he's been collecting the art that covers his body, he's noticed a few things about tattoo shops — chief among them being a lack of customer service.
"Most shops I've been in have been intimidating," said Robinson, 39, of Laurel. "It wasn't a friendly atmosphere. It was just come in, sit down, get your stuff and leave."
Robinson and his business partner, Frank Hawkins, recently opened Wicked Killa Ink in Laurel, tucked away in an industrial park on Cherry Lane. They want things to be different at their new shop.
"Tattoos can be fun," Robinson said. "They are fun. That's what we want here. It should be a safe, clean, friendly environment. Those are huge things for us. We want anyone, from any walk of life, to come in the door and not feel intimidated."
Since Wicked Killa Ink opened its doors Sept. 1, Robinson said business has been good. Hawkins brought a sizable customer base with him from his former tattoo shop, the recently closed Hawks Tattoo in College Park. Hawkins said he's wanted to open a tattoo shop in Laurel for 10 years and now, Wicked Killa Ink is the only tattoo shop in Laurel.
But the two men are focused on more than the business: They want to be a part of the Laurel community.
"We want to grow and be a part of Laurel," Robinson said. "We want to participate in the Main Street Festival. We want to reach out to area hospitals and do some fundraising for breast cancer survivors. We want to do charity bike rides.
"We want this place to be a family. You know, I plan on doing this a long time."
A key aspect of destigmatizing tattoos, Robinson said, is making the tattoo shop fun and family-friendly. That comes through customer service, he said.
"At other places, in my personal experience, you're not going to have someone like me behind the desk, smiling and excited to see you," Robinson said. "And you may or may not even have a conversation with your artist, other than what you want and how much it's going to cost you. But for the majority of people, getting a tattoo is a very personal experience."
Hawkins said he wants to have conversations with his clients — if he knows the story behind the tattoo a person is getting, the more work he can put into it and the more "extravagant" he can make it. The more engaged and thoughtful a person is in their idea, the more creative he can be in executing it.
"Even if you just want a tiny heart, I'm going to try to feel you out and see if I can make it something more than just a heart," he said. "I try to do my very best with each one."
Wicked Killa Ink has three tattoo artists, including Hawkins, 49, who has been tattooing — if not professionally — since he was 14. That was when a friend moved back to Virginia from California, and she asked Hawkins to tattoo her using her older brother's tattoo kit. Hawkins managed, even tattooing the girl's initials on his own arm. His mother wasn't thrilled.
"She took me to Great Southern (Tattoo Co. in Alexandria), asking for it to be removed," he said. "They couldn't do it, but the woman at the desk took me in the back room and I showed her my tattoo. She asked, 'it looks really good, who did this?' I said, 'I did,' and explained how. She looked at me and asked if I wanted to learn how to tattoo the right way. I would go to Great Southern after classes let out and learn to tattoo."
In learning, Hawkins would often practice on himself, working in his basement out of his mother's sight. Whenever he didn't like something, he would just tattoo over it. His left arm is now covered in his own art.
Still, home-tattooing is a bad idea, Hawkins said.
"You have to be up-to-par with your safety and hygiene regulations," he said.
Which is why Wicked Killa Ink adheres to guidelines set forth by Massachusetts regulations, which are some of the strictest in the country, Robinson said. If the shop's quiet, a person can hear the autoclave whirring away, tucked in a back corner sterilizing all of the artists' instruments.
"When you walk in, first impressions are everything," he said. "What you're looking at here is cleanliness. The seats, the instruments wrapped in plastic, the chemicals for cleaning — It's what you should be seeing."