I kept meaning to post this earlier in the month… but props to Southern Star Tattoo for being featured in Prick Magazine as shop of the month!
Here’s the article, amigos:
In a town that has its fair share of tattoo shops, Southern Star Tattoo has made quite a name for itself in only one year. Even in such a short time being open, the crew are by no means amateurs. Bill Conner, Eric Thrice, Chris Howell, Demian Bouchon, Brian Gattis and Keet D’Arms have over 50 years of tattooing experience between them and a collection of work that is outstanding. These six individuals have pooled their talents together to form a brotherhood of the needle that resulted in an amazing studio that they all own together. It’s a tattoo hippie commune of sorts that keeps the people of Atlanta coming in for more and more. I recently had a chance to sit down with Keet D’Arms and discuss the unique make up of the shop.“One of the best things is that we’ve always been a tight knit crew. The circumstances we found ourselves in kind of forced us together more than ever and in a sense it forged a brotherhood between us and a super trust to do these things we had to do to make a shop.”
It’s this bond that also drives a lot of the artwork in the shop;“the advantage is that we definitely see the eyes are on us in doing a new endeavor and it’s really raised the bar for us in a sense that everyone is going harder than they’ve ever gone. Everybody is trying to really kick ass, you know? I see someone next to me doing something awesome and it’s like the next thing I do, I want to make it more awesome. It’s like a friendly competition, which is really cool. I think if anything, it makes everyone want to try harder. I think that’s a great function of being happy and positive is that you don’t feel beaten.” This competition is what keeps Southern Star in a perpetually forward motion, always wanting to improve on every piece they work on.
Aside from their extensive amounts of experience, SST has set a level of quality for every one of their tattoos, be it full bodysuit or a lone Yin Yang symbol.“I don’t think any of us try to look at any tattoo like it’s more important than another one. We are a great mix of a street shop and a custom shop. One of the ideas of our sort of brotherhood is that we all take an active interest in both how our shop is perceived and the work that comes out of it.We have a standard.”
Recently Southern Star had their one year anniversary party in Atlanta for which there was a huge turn out. This was a testament to just how well the shop and the community has received the work of the whole crew and SST is showing their appreciation.“We definitely intend to keep investing in the community that we serve. You know we respect the people that want to spend their hard earned money with us. We definitely are going to show that by making our shop nicer and nicer and better and better. We’re not interested in opening a bunch of locations,we intend to continue to have a high standard for quality and hold ourselves to it. We are grateful that everybody has supported us and continues to support us and we expect to keep banging out badass shit.” And that’s the bottom line: great tattoos.Without a doubt, Southern Star Tattoo has quality work, a kick ass atmosphere, and certainly the personality of a top-notch tattoo shop.
Southern Star Tattoo is located at 736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE in Atlanta, GA.
Also, who’s getting ready for our Day of the Dead show on Nov. 5th?!
love,
stephanie
