Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

World Famous Tattoo Studio Expanding in Midtown

By DNAinfo Staff on June 27, 2011 4:35pm

By Jill Colvin

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MIDTOWN — Red Rocket Tattoo, world-famous tattoo studio, which has done work for celebs from John Mayer to Britney Spears, is getting ready to trade its long-time digs at 46 W. 36th St. for a newer, larger space.

But longtime fans of the Midtown shop won't have to trek far. The new studio is opening just steps away.

Co-owner Adam Hays, 29, said despite the recession, business keeps booming at the shop, which opened as Triple X Tattoo 14 years ago. The team has built a loyal clientele of repeat customers who flock to the shop from across the globe.

"We figured we might as well keep the ball rolling," said Hays, who's been hard at work preparing the new location at the corner of West 36th Street and Sixth Avenue for its Aug. 1 opening.

At 1,550 square feet, the new location is more than 50 percent larger than the current space, making room for the shop's eight professional tattoo artists, custom-made T-shirts, jewelry, art and body piercers. 

Unlike many shops downtown that cater to drop-ins looking for work on the spot, the team at Red Rocket sells itself as an "art-driven, art-based studio" that aims to create an open atmosphere where everyone feels welcome, including secretaries on lunch breaks, Wall Street types, and a steady flow of tourists.

"We do all sides of the law; grandmas and sports stars, cops and criminals. It doesn't matter," said Mike Bellamy, 44, who's co-owned the studio for the past 17 years.

Hays and Bellamy said that by staying in the neigborhood, they hope the studio continues to bring an artistic flavor and some edge to a neighborhood dominated by tourist kitsch and chain stores.

"There's not a lot of art-driven spaces in the neighborhood," Hays said.

And while the shop offers hundreds of design books for inspiration, the artists also do a fair number of tourist-themed tattoos, including little big apples, Yankees logos and landmarks.

Thomas Tolborg, 33, visiting New York from Denmark for the first time, said he'd discovered Red Rocket online and had a friend prepare a design in honor of the city before he left.

"I wanted a token from my trip," said Tolborg of the tattoo — a zombie version of the Statue of Liberty, which he was having done at the studio Monday afternoon.

"It's like a souvenir," he said as he examined the progress, one he will never forget.