Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Austen Minor. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Austen, thanks for joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

Our tattoo shop, Rose Tattoo Club creates an environment for anyone and everyone to feel at home, safe, and comfortable, while also getting a tattoo that will last a lifetime. We want to continue the traditions of an old school “street shop” with a modern take. We still hold true to the old traditions of tattooing (painting flash, making pigment, making needles, building machines) while advancing with the changing world around us. To stay relevant in our community we believe we must grow with the world around us.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started tattooing about 15 years ago. Like most in our industry I was an outcast in my early years. I spent most of my time in the punk rock scene in south Florida, which opened my eyes to tattoos and tattooing. I had a very taxing apprenticeship which at the time I didn’t see the value of what I was learning until now. I think what sets our shop apart from most is the fact that we continue the traditions of the people who paved the way before us while staying fresh with the times. We treat everyone who walks through the doors with respect and kindness, and ive seen a lot of other tattooers in our industry act “too cool” or above doing the job at hand. We don’t like that. We try to show as much appreciation to the folks who walk through our doors. Getting a tattoo is nerve wracking. It’s an intimate process that involves trusting someone to mark your body permanently. We try to take as much doubt and fear out of the process with our positivity and the fun we have in our shop. A tattoo shop is a living and breathing entity and you can feel the magic when you walk through our doors

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partners and I (Ash Cox and Michael Fererra) met working along side each other. Our story stems from the relationship we built tattooing next to each other everyday. You spend more time in a tattoo shop than you do in your own home. It is like a second home. A place to escape and be creative. After being in the industry for over a decade we decided we wanted to make our own business. We had the skill, the drive, and the dream, we just had to build it. Having such hard working determined friends made building a new business a lot easier than most have it. Knowing someone has your back and also has the same drive and work ethic made the process seem easier. There was plenty of hardships, but having an outlet to vent and also 2 other people to throw ideas around helped us create our vision.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

After making the decision to open our own shop we had to bite the bullet and tell our current boss our plan. Tattooing has its own unspoken code. While he was supportive of our decision out of respect we stepped down to figure out the next step. We were fortunate enough to be invited by our friend Lindsey at Ikigai tattoo to rent a room out so we could tattoo and make money to build our shop. When we weren’t tattooing, we were dealing with contractors, the city, and managing our home lives. It was a very stressful point in our careers but if it weren’t from the help of our friends we might not have seen it through. The city doesn’t make opening a new business easy and it was something we’ve never done before. Now that we are up and running there is a huge sense of accomplishment knowing we over came every hurdle thrown our way.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.rosetattooclub.com
• Instagram: @rosetattooclub

Image Credits

Alix Leventon photo credits