MURKADO

What motivated you to get tattooed in the first place?

• Self expression. I do love the artwork too, it's collecting art, but on your body.

Do you remember what your first tattoo was?

• I actually don’t have it anymore. I covered it up with a medieval dragon.

• It was a crystal ball with talons around it, with some Asian script inside the crystal ball. I was 16 or 17 years old and got it at Raptor Tattoo in the early 90s, but I can’t remember who the artist was.

How come you covered up your first tattoo? Did you have regrets about it?

• I regretted for sure and just wasn’t feeling it anymore. I was really young when I got it.

How many tattoos do you currently have?

• I have 35-ish, give or take a couple, up or down. My last tattoo was the one on my stomach: a “heikegani” a.k.a. a samurai crab.

How do you decide on what type of tattoo design(s) to get prior to booking an appointment?

• The last couple of times were decided by the artist Heath Smith. He never disappoints!

• We needed to fill the space on my stomach, so he drew a couple of things that didn’t work at first, but then the heikegani fit perfectly!

• Most of the time, I’ll give Heath an idea, and he kills it every time.

How long have you and Heath known each other for? You two seem pretty tight. He designed the wallpaper at Grandin Fish right?

• I've known Heath for about 20 years. And yes, he did the wallpaper for Grandin because we wanted a tattoo art feel to it. “Port to Prairie,” it’s some really cool art!

What type of tattoo styles have you gotten done and what do you like about them?

• I have traditional Japanese, American, Old School, Mexican styles and a lot animal tattoos. I really like the clean lines, and how all of the colours pop.

Do any of your tattoos hold any personal meaning to you that you’d like to share?

• The tattoo of my bulldog Olive, she was my first pet. Heath killed it! With the Olive branches as added detail? Brilliant.

What were some of the most painful spots to get tattooed for you?

• The chest sucked, parts of my sides, the back of my knee ditch, the stomach… It all sucks!! I hear the butt is really bad too hahaha!

Do you have any interesting tattoo-related stories?

• I love travelling and getting tattooed. In Brooklyn, I got a dive girl pin up tattoo at Smith Street Tattoo by Dan Santoro. I’ve been to Japan with Heath and the fam, where I got a mermaid pin up tattoo at Ink Rat by Hata. That was a super fun trip! I also got a hula girl in Toronto, but can’t remember the shop or artist.

What was your experience like travelling in Japan while being covered in tattoos? I hid mine for the most part on my first trip there, out of fear of being called out, but no one seemed to really care when I wore short sleeves, one lady even complimented me, haha!

• It was pretty chill travelling in Japan for the most part. The first time I went, it was in January and it was chilly, so I was covered up most of the time in long pants and jackets.

• The second time was at the end of August / beginning of September and I was in shorts and t-shirts for most of that trip. I got kicked out of a Pachinko parlour (a Japanese casino), but otherwise, everybody was pretty chill when it came to our tattoos.

Has having tattoos had any impact in your personal life?

• It did when I was younger. I had to cover up my arms because I was a banker before I opened up my businesses.

What made you want to own your own businesses? You've got quite a few now in the city. Do you have any plans for more?

• We basically turned our passion of loving clothing, sneakers, food, and music into our work.

• It’s nice being your own boss, it definitely has its ups and downs. It’s great to be able to create, see your ideas come to fruition, build a community around our businesses, and empower our employees.

• We’re not actively looking to open another business, but if a great opportunity falls into our laps, we would consider it. But it would have to be a solid win.

Do you have any favourite tattoos?

• They are all my favourite! Hahaha… but if I had to pick one, my Olive tattoo for sure.

Who are some of the artists that you've gotten tattooed by?

• Steve Batt, Spencer Evans, Ryan Buttar, Dan Santoro from Brooklyn, Hata from Japan, a couple more artists over the years (I can’t remember their names), but most of my tattoos are done by Heath Smith.