Ink'stone Tattoo Studio
Third-floor studio in Aberdeen Square, open daily in the afternoons. A quieter, mall-based alternative to a storefront shop, doing custom pieces and smaller fine-line work for a mostly local Richmond clientele.
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Tattoo Studios
Zen Tattoo
$$$
West Cambie
About Zen Tattoo
Private appointment-only studio near Sexsmith and Hazelbridge, working in fine line, floral, brush-stroke calligraphy and Asian styles including Baybayin script and Chinese stamp designs. The exact address is given once you book with a deposit.
There is no window to walk past and no flash on the wall. A private studio runs on enquiries, a portfolio, an agreed design and a deposit, with the exact address arriving once the booking is confirmed. That last part unsettles people who have only used street shops, and it is standard practice rather than a sign of anything strange.
The work at Zen Tattoo runs to fine line, floral, brush-stroke calligraphy and Asian styles including Baybayin script and Chinese stamp designs. That pairing is specific enough to be the whole reason someone seeks out a studio like this. Script work in a writing system you actually read matters, and so does calligraphy that behaves like calligraphy rather than a font, because the point of a brush stroke is that it changes weight along its length.
Anyone getting a piece in a script should bring the exact characters and confirm them with someone who reads the language before sitting down. That advice holds for every studio, everywhere, and the cost of skipping it is permanent.
Sexsmith and Hazelbridge is the northern end of the Golden Village, in the West Cambie pocket where Aberdeen, the Capstan towers and the Sexsmith warehouse blocks all run together. Two Canada Line stations sit within a short walk, which is convenient for a session that might run several hours and leave you not especially keen on driving afterwards. Consultation and booking run through the studio's own site, so that is the place to start.
Visiting Zen Tattoo
Where to find it
No public premises; Zen Tattoo travels to customers.
In the West Cambie neighbourhood of Richmond.
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