Tattooing – a typically male dominated environment. However, four girls in North Shields are combating the stereotype and running the first all-female tattoo studio in the North East of England.
On a busy street in North Shields, the sound of buzzing tattoo guns can be heard from outside a shop, which is where you can find 4th Avenue. This is the joint venture of Brogan and Abbie, a married couple, as well as their two friends.
Brogan, the resident piercer at 4th Avenue, said: “We both said we’d like it to be all female, from previously working in a male studio.”
The experiences the girls had working in mostly male studios drove them to open an all-female studio to challenge the perceptions most people have about tattooing.
The studio opened in January and since then has been extremely busy, taking booking for tattoos, piercings and most recently micro-blading (the delicate tattooing of eyebrows to mimic actual hairs).
The studio’s clients range in gender and age, supporting the girls idea that females are just as good at tattooing as their male counterparts.
They also sell their own merchandise including t-shirts and beanie hats with their own logo featuring the design. Brogan said: “We just wanted to get the 4th Avenue logo out there!”
Check out the video below to find out more about Brogan and her friends’ venture, and head to their Facebook page to find out more about 4th Avenue.