One thing that I love about New York City is the plethora of tattoo shops per square mile. Believe it or not, I have yet to walk into a shop that is dirty either! I’m not saying that I’ve visited dirty shops in New Jersey, but there was one or two. I have not seen one in New York City yet, and my streak is still alive! I was recently down on the Lower East Side in the vicinity of Second and Third Street on Second Avenue, when I stumbled across a shop called New York Adorned. Of course, I had to go in only to find myself in one of the coolest tattoo shops in NYC. It was so cool that they opened a second shop in Brooklyn.
Now, I never got to meet the owner nor did I find out whom the owner was, but I did find out that New York Adorned was opened in 1996 before the ban on tattooing in NYC was lifted. The shop is not just a custom tattoo shop; it’s also a jewelry store carrying jewelry from independent designers. New York Adorned says that they’re a shop that believes in creativity and collaboration, meaning they’re always looking to help promote anyone who is creative. New York Adorned’s main goal as a shop is to inspire as much as possible to benefit the shop and their customers.
There are 14 tattoo artists tattooing at New York Adorned. The staff was split between the Brooklyn location and the NYC location, which I visited. All of the larger tattoo pieces will be done in Brooklyn, while all of the smaller, single-visit tattoos will be done here in the Lower East Side spot. Tattooing here in NYC is Mike Rubendall, Thomas Hooper, Bryan Randolph, Damion Ross, newcomers Daniel Santoro, Virginia Elwood, and Katja Ramirez. Over in Brooklyn you’ll find Chris O’Donnell, Shinji Sakurada (Shinji specializes in traditional Japanese “Tebori” hand poked tattooing), Kaz, Yoni Zilber, Stephanie Tamez, Timothy Hoyer, and Dana Helmuth. They also play host to many guest tattoo artists whom are world-renowned and visit throughout the year. Honestly, after seeing the artwork by the in-house staff, this place doesn’t need world-renowned artists!
