The latest spot for Mumbai to get inked

When Swapnil Gawde sat sketching in art class at The JJ School of Art, he had no idea that eight years later he would be inking a unicorn on someone's neck at a tattoo parlour. Sunday Mid Day dropped by at the just-launched Tattoostar Collective in Bandra

As soon as he completed his textile design degree from the city's most reputed art school, The JJ School of Art, Swapnil Gawde took on tattooing by practising motifs on willing friends. The artist has seven tattoos, and counting, on his own body. "The only difference between design and tattooing is that here, the skin is the canvas. JJ was a great foundation to learn about art. All I'm doing is using the skills I acquired there to create tattoos," he says.


Tattoo artist Sunil Gawde inks a handwritten signature on a client's back
at Tattoostar Collective. Pics/ Ashish Rane. (Below left) Gawde tattooed
the client's favourite band, metal group Testify, in the typography best
suited to their style of music

Tattoostar Collective, his one month-old tattoo parlour at Carter road, offers temporary as well as permanent tattoos and piercings. The parlour has three other artists on board -- 25 year-olds Amit Gawde and Bhaskar Malondkar, and 22 year-old Ilham Kapasi.

"I create most of the designs, each of which has an element of fantasy," says Gawde, who has been tattooing for eight years. He says 40 per cent of customers who walk in to Tattoostar Collective, already know what they want inked. "We take their idea to the next level. It helps us create a design that is customised for them, with a little of our own style thrown in," says Gawde. The latest trend in body art, says the artist, is religious symbols and figures. The Buddha, Om and cross are current favourites. The shop also trains tattoo lovers on how to tattoo and use equipment. Currently, Gawde has three students under his wing.

AT: 4 B, Gagangiri, CarterRoad, Bandra (W).
PRICE: Rs 1,000 per inch (black and white designs). Rs 500 for every colour you want added.
CALL: 9892141100