We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lorena Lorenzo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lorena, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I come from a communist country and always had a dream of one day having my own business. I started off as an artist and knew I wanted to continue my passion for art, so I made the move from Cuba to Canada quite early in my life. This is where I realized my passion would be tattooing.

I knew I would not be successful without having some background knowledge of how an established tattoo studio operated. So I put the sweat and tears in, I watched, I listened, I learned. I worked hard and late, and honestly became a better artist because of it. I truly value the lessons I learned while working in a studio with other tattoo artists and the crew who ran it.

Very quickly I was able to become the head artist of a studio in downtown Toronto and that is when I knew I was ready to create my own business and make my visions come true.

When I first set out to do this, I was lucky to already have all the licenses and training I needed, but to make sure that I was the best of the best, I added additional training and qualifications to operate and run my own studio. I made sure to find space that provided privacy and comfort for the clients since my clientele typically includes those with very sensitive areas that need to be tattooed. This was the most challenging for me, as the space needed to be clean, large enough to not feel cramped and also close enough for my clients to be able to get to me without hassle.

Once I had all this established, the next step I need to take was getting the space set up correctly so that the flow would work for everyone. I also needed to contact all the suppliers and set up my own accounts with them so that I could save money when ordering in bulk. Since I was the head artist at a studio downtown and they knew my work, the process was a lot easier for me.

The final step in me getting the business set up and honestly, it was the most exciting part, was telling my clients that I was opening my own private studio. It was so important for me to have a space that was safe for everyone no matter what they are going through or who they are. So being able to change the approach to how clients are treated was the biggest motivation for opening Indigo Art Studios.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Born in the beautiful city of Havana, Cuba, Lorena found herself through the love of art. Picking up a paintbrush at a very young age, she fell in love with drawing colourful and bright things.

Lorena studied at Elemental Visual Art Institute and graduated at 19 with a diploma in Fine Arts. Starting her career as the tattoo artist she has become today.

She collaborated and worked at the Main Experimental Graphics Studio in Havana doing Printmaking and Woodcut Artwork and also participated in collective art exhibits, community art events, and art shows with other talented artists in Havana.

After moving to Toronto, Canada in 2008, Lorena continued to keep up with her studies and graduated from OCAD.

She also attended TSA ( The Toronto School of Art ) finishing her studies with another Fine Art Diploma.

In 2009, Lorena got involved in the Tattoo Industry and has since worked next to many world renowned Tattoo Studios and Artists of Canada, USA, Mexico, Europe, Cuba, and other countries.

“When I am not at the studio, I keep myself busy with other activities—often not related to art.”

Lorena enjoys variety when it comes to tattooing but bright colors, cover-ups, watercolor, mandalas and geometrical/dot work art are distinctive in her pieces.

She tries with each piece to innovate and experiment with colors, elements, and textures.

She is most proud of her cover-ups. She quickly became one of the top cover up artists in the city, known as the Cover Up Queen, because she is able to hide those mistakes we all made, those scars we don’t want to look at anymore, and really anything else you can think of. She works directly with each client in person to make sure they never have to see what they are covering up again.

How did you build your audience on social media?

First and foremost, be yourself! Show yourself as you are and do not try to build a fake persona, your clients will appreciate you being real.

The second most important thing to do is be present. Make sure you are posting, if you can not do it daily, make are keeping your clients/fans up to date with what is happening in your business. If your lifestyle is part of your business like mine is, make sure to showcase it and explain why you might not be around for a few days. You would not believe how some fans can really care for you and want to make sure you are ok.

Take the time to make sure your posts are relevant to your business. Just because it is a trend does not mean it works for your clientele. Make sure the items you are posting are actual items that your clients want to see. You will notice what works and what doesn’t, so experimenting is smart but keeping track of what you are posting is the key.

Be creative! Be Unique! Show your personality!

When I started with Instagram it was so new, so no one really knew what it was or how to use it for your business. So starting off, I made sure to connect with all my clients by making sure they followed me, tagging them in photos of the art I did on them, and running contests to win free tattoo time with me. It all helped me build a following and also made my clients loyal because I would give things away to those who interacted with my posts and they could also grab last-minute appointments or flash work for a great price.

Another huge benefit to my social media success was working with other artists on collab posts. This allowed their followers to find and follow me and also share my work with their followers and so on and so on.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I became a known name because of the work I can do on melanin skin and scars. My technique and skills completely camouflage scars and the use of the right pigments and right tools on darker complexions makes sure to guarentee the long-lasting quality of the tattoo.

A lot of artists will not work with scars because of how hard it is to hide them and work with the skin. So I had a lot of breast cancer survivors reach out to me to feel beautiful again and honestly it is my honour to help these clients out.

Another aspect that differs from the above is my use of geometric patterns and mandalas. Always been a favourite of my clients and a joy for me to design as I never create two of the same piece.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://indigoartattoos.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indigoartattoos/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indigoartattoos/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lorenaindigoart