Seven Years

I’ve been working with Aaron for over seven years.
Two years had passed between his last session and the one last week. Life got in the way for a while. It tends to. That’s not unusual. People move, priorities shift, things come up. The tattoo waited. That’s fine. It always does.

He walked in and two years fell away. It felt like no time had passed at all. That’s one of the quieter things about long-term tattoo work that doesn’t get talked about enough. The relationship doesn’t really stop between sessions. It just pauses.

The Space Next Door

Next to us that day, Jo was working on Kris who I’d finished a backpiece on not long before. A large scale project, finished in eight months. Now he’s back, and we’re in the middle of a collaboration on his head. Two artists, working on the same project from a different direction.

At some point in the afternoon I looked up and took stock of the room.

Two long-term clients. Two artists. Work that had taken years of trust and commitment to reach that point. All of it happening in the same space, on the same afternoon, in the studio we’d built together in Coleham.

Taking Stock

As everyone was winding down for the day I grabbed my camera and took a photo.

Not for any particular reason. Just because it felt worth recording.

When we moved UN1TY to Coleham, this was the idea. Not just the aesthetics of it, or the location. This. A space where work could develop, where artists could grow alongside each other, and where clients felt comfortable enough to keep coming back. Where a two year gap doesn’t mean starting over. It just means picking up where you left off.

That afternoon felt like proof that it’s working.