From skin care to clothes, everything that we see today in the world of fashion and wellness is about minimalism. Whether it's dainty earpieces or sustainable and lightweight sunscreen, the next generation wants things to be meaningful and minimalistic. They also have a similar approach toward the tattoo they get inked.
Gone are the days when people sat on a tattoo artiste's chair to get an aggressive wolf inked across their shoulders. No more skull or lion tattoos either. Now, Gen Z wants nibble-sized tattoos inked on their forearm, their wrist, and sometimes even the side of their thumb. You can imagine how small the tattoo has to be!
But that's not all you see. While the tattoo is expected to be like a sweet pea, it needs to hold some meaning. It could be a tattoo with one's parents' initials, a butterfly that symbolises transformation, a blossoming flower, or just a F-O-U-R lettered word that gives them H-O-P-E.
All-in-all, tattoos now are about minimalism and symbolism. Thus, they are a serious business and you want to make sure you are putting all your thought into what you want to be inked where.
To simplify this for you, we got in touch with some of Bengaluru's most trusted and Instagram-approved tattoo artistes. After a thorough chat, they revealed their favourite minimalist tattoos. On being asked what makes the perfect minimalistic tattoo, some said 'detailings' while others credited the concept behind it. If you ask us, every tiny tattoo you get is a blend of both.
Veer Hegde from Eternal Expression, one of Bangalore's most trusted and well-known tattoo artistes had not one but five minimalistic tattoos to share with us. He explained how each tattoo stands for work done with love. "Each of our tattoos is a composition and is designed in person for that person alone," he said. The author, in particular, found the triangle to be eloquent. For the unversed, a triangle tattoo symbolizes perfect harmony between physical, spiritual, and mental well-being.
Eibormi Rymbai from Dark Arts, The Tattoo Studio designed a memorial tattoo for his client in remembrance of the latter's parents who are no more. It reads, "The ones who love us, never really leave us."
Explaining the heartwarming concept behind it, Eibormi said, "They (the client) wanted something simple to capture the love showered on her by her parents during the time that they were alive and how the love will live eternally in her life even in their absence."
While Veer and Eibormi were all about meaningfulness in tattoos, Rollen from Inkadelik finds himself particularly intrigued by tattoos with intricate detailing. His favourite, a blossoming lotus, may seem simple and elegant but requires a fine eye. "The lines had to be precise, symmetry maintained and the number of dots and the distance between each had to be constant," he said.
We further chat with Sabarish from Skindeep Tattoo Studio, who revealed that he gets an adrenaline rush from the intricacy of minimalistic tattoos. "I like doing minimalist tattoos because of the challenge involved where you are trying to work out the simplest way to put forward your client's concept as a tattoo. And the simplicity is what makes these tattoos very aesthetically appealing," Sabarish said while sharing a photo of this gorgeous flower tattoo.
Each of Bengaluru's popular tattoo artistes had a different take on minimalistic tattoos. Some preferred designing these to polish their skills and working with fine detailing, others adored how clients relied on them to ink a beautiful concept. That being said, they all agreed that the craze for 'less is more' tattoos is here to stay and if you are just as fascinated by it, then you need to head to your nearest tattoo studio too.
E-mail: muskankhullar@newindianexpress.com
Twitter: @muskankhullar03