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

Sasha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

It was a matter of survival both financially and creatively. I had always had a flare for the creative. I had one goal, live a creative life. I saw that others were able to prosper from creating their art. I just knew it would work; I would not again allow a blow I took on (discussed later) during transitioning from high school affect me. This would be my fuel and after all I love to be the underdog. Opportunity to live my dream in real time got me excited.

Sasha, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My youngest memories were that of growing in a creative family. My family is Native American, and we lived in the southwest travelling selling Navajo style silver and turquoise jewelry. It was that way for several years until the family illnesses of addiction and mental illness struck. Creativity did continue, I began to take some of the family skills of art and leatherworking. Leatherworking I would later foreshadow the future. Fastforward a few years to my early twenties, I was playing bass in a rock band and attending community college for illustration. It was my best option after having my portfolio reviewed by my dream art school, I was told that I have little to no talent. I was devastated, a devastation that would later fuel me. After the grant money had run out and the band had run its course. I had no creative outlets at the time. I scraped by working in a factory as a machinist. Machining did offer a form of creativity, cutting parts to be used for industry. I could only take so much of the injuries and low pay though. It was the early 2000’s and I had changed careers. I was working at bank as the towers of high finance were in full swing, engaged in full decadence. Thank you, Freddy and Fanny for the good financial fortune at the time. Something was missing, some sort of emptiness. I needed a creative outlet besides my guitars I had collected with hopes of reliving my rock band glory. Many of us could see the rot cultivation within the financial sector. “Now was the Time!” I had thought. Car and motorcycle culture immensely popular. Both of which had been passions of mine. I watched the many reality shows; as these awesome cars and bikes had tricked out custom paint. I had always wanted to airbrush, “This was my ticket!” would work tirelessly to build up my airbrushing skill. After a couple years it was clear that I was not going to be able to support myself with airbrushing vehicles. There was also going to be massive expense if I hoped to convert my garage into a full-blown paint shop. I was lost at my next move; I decided that I will check out the tattoo shop down the block to get this design I had drawn up based guitar sound holes. The shop’s name was Dark Horse Tattoo, after a light bulb went on. If I can’t paint designs on cars, I would paint them on people. Where to learn? I started at a tattoo school where I learned what not to do. I went back to Dark Horse and convinced Rob the owner to take me on as an apprentice. A year and a half later the market collapsed, I used my severance from the bank to buy Dark Horse. The adventure began, the next two decades I would travel the US tattooing, win awards, move the shop location several times, until we rested in Seattle which had been my goal. I was gifted with three wonderful kids whom I was able to provide for. As a method to grow as an artist I took on acrylic and later oil painting. I acquired every resource I could on pencil drawing and painting. I heard from others in the industry this was the method to advance one’s career. The greatest return on investment one can get in life is continuous growth, Japanese culture has a concept called Kaizen in business, which is a state of constant improvement. I am living this now, as a break from my past. The hype of being a tattooer that many dream for was very real then. Especially if one let’s their ego get out of control which is easy to do with every vice one could want and fast money coming at you. In many ways I am lucky to have survived myself. Here I am two decades later, six feet above ground and so is Dark Horse. This may sound strange, but I have decided to look for ways to bring my art back to its core. Don’t get me wrong a fancy location and other resident artist resent is awesome. However, somewhere in that I needed to get back to my goal of working with clients and making my art. That is the great reward. I am also looking to new creative endeavors, I have newfound energy to airbrushing again. I am also developing a podcast for sharing the diverse interests and stories of my clients. I also make myself available to those close to me to share knowledge and provide opportunity to. Such as my Son Braydin Rose who did my photographs for this article.
To other artists, I say keep learning, make every piece your masterpiece, and as Journey said, “Don’t Stop Believing.”

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In October of 2017 I received a call, my business had been broken into. Everything was gone; I cleaned up the shop with the other artist. Determined that the next day I would come back and win. I would like to say that it was immediate triumph. Being that I only had the tools taught to me growing up. I proceeded to get drunk that night with the crew and others. One of whom was more than likely involved in the robbery. A disagreement breaks out, I’m running down a street, last thing I remember is a blow to the head from a club. I awaken from a seven-day coma, all of my fears in relation to the robbery had materialized. After a couple weeks of recovery and thanks to the kindness of friends I was given enough equipment to get back up and running. I did get epilepsy from the hematoma but am treated. I did learn that if I could survive that, I can survive anything, other robberies, storefront damage, or being shut down for two months because of a pandemic.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Always keep developing, do not put your dreams in the hand of others. They are your dreams, not the ones of others. I was taught as a child a strong person causes fear in others. I have learned a truly strong person runs into their fear to face it. Eyes forward, life wise and creatively.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.darkhorsetattooing.com
• Instagram: Darkhorsetattoo and Darkhorseseattle
• Facebook: Sasha King Tattoo

Image Credits

Braydin Michael Rose
Me for the tattoo pictures