Suzie is one of these people that you instantly like! Not only is Suzie a yoga teacher, but she is also a talented tattoo artist and tattoo studio owner.
Who are you? Where are you in the world? What do you do?
I’m Suzie, a yoga teacher and hand poked tattoo artist. I live in East London with my scruffy jack russell -Peanut - and I run my own little holistic handpoke tattoo studio and treatment space near Bethnal Green called Trikona.
How did you get into yoga in the first place? And what made you decide to teach?
I started going to yoga about 10 years ago because I heard it could help you lose weight and in my 20s that was unnecessarily high on my list of priorities. I also had a pretty terrible bad back for a generally healthy 23 year old. So I started going to hot power yoga and quite quickly became addicted. About 3 months in I realised there was something more to this yoga stuff... and after a few years it had transformed every area of my life, made me want to take better care of myself, live with deeper awareness, be more kind to others... all of that good stuff!
What came first? The tattoos or the yoga? How did you start inking skins?
I did my first yoga teacher training 5 years ago. Initially I wanted to teach because I‘d never felt so alive in my life… and I wanted everyone else to feel that too.
After a couple of years I embarked on deeper self enquiry and soon realised that meditation and yoga were ways of expressing blocked creativity and accessing ‘flow state’. Yoga changed the pace and priorities in my life and I began using my time to reconnect with drawing and painting, practices which had been a huge part of my life and identity up until my mid-twenties when I got a bit lost in living for the weekend.
I’ve always loved tattoo and have collected a fair few since I was 18. In 2017 I randomly decided to buy a stick and poke tattoo kit off the internet. When I started turning my drawings into tattoos everything seemed to make sense and quite organically I began my journey with traditional tattoo. I began tattooing myself and pretty soon most of my friends were asking for them and within a couple of years I’d tattooed half the London yoga community!
I should mention I did do a cross contamination training once I realised this was becoming a ‘thing’! It’s not a great idea to start tattooing other people until you know your stuff!
How did you end up starting your studio?
I was tattooing from home for a while, I didn’t really expect so many people to want them and it was a bit of an unexpected unstoppable beast! There are rules however (for very good reasons) and you are not supposed to tattoo in an unlicensed premises.
Soon as I realised this I started visualising the type of place I wanted to tattoo from.
The typical tattoo studio environment has never sat right with me. The aggression and intimidation. The clinical feel. The disconnection from story and intention behind the tattoo. Tattooing from home had enabled me to provide a safe, private, calming space for my (mostly female) clients to enjoy a relaxing and often uplifting tattoo experience. Hand poke tattooing is quiet and slow, so I wanted a space which would honour the energy of this exchange and also house practices such as Reiki, yoga, therapy... so that tattooing is withdrawn from the masculine stereotype and re-homed as a holistic experience.
After keeping my eyes open and viewing some spaces over about 6 months I finally found my little steel container studio at Gossamer City Project, which is a home for creatives and start ups. It also has a few lovely holistic businesses such as wonderful Masaj and Relax Facials so it felt really good to be in the company of other mindful studios.
What has been the biggest challenge in starting or maintaining a business?
Taking the plunge and signing the 2 year contract was the hardest part. It felt like a huge risk and a big commitment. Luckily I already had a really strong base of clients, so I knew once I was up and running I’d be fine.
I had saved enough to fund the first couple of months, knowing I wouldn’t be able to actually begin working there untilI had my Special Treatments License from the council. It took about 2.5 months until I had the space up to scratch for the requirements of the license (my boyfriend was amazing at helping me fit it out properly), had my inspection, and finally had my license on the wall to begin working from my studio.
During those months of waiting I was tattooing from a studio which was over an hour commute away, teaching 11 yoga classes a week and stressing about paying rent for a studio I wasn’t using! I learnt to just surrender into everything beyond my control and trust things would settle soon. And of course they did.
After that the biggest challenge was knowing when to rest and stop working! I’m a workaholic so this is forever my thing...
Are you a planner or a follow your gut kinda gal'?
GUT ALL THE WAY
Who or what keeps inspiring you?
My parents have retired now but they ran their own successful small business which grew from my mum’s passion. They went from living in a caravan and washing in a bucket (no jokes) to growing a business which provided them with a beautiful life - not glamorous or extravagant, but more than enough. They’ve always hugely inspired me to be brave, work hard, be honest and trust what the universe serves you.
Do you have a personal or professional mission? A message you are intent on sharing?
To create a life of true substance, with permanence and legacy. That’s really my main vision that I’m keeping in mind at the moment. I haven’t figured out what it looks like or how to get there yet!
Any future projects you want to tell us about?
I want to move my life from the city to the countryside, and take my practices and my clients with me! I have a vision of yoga & tattoo retreats from my own little woodland hideaway... again I have no idea how to get there yet!
Who do you love to practice with?
Naomi Absalom and Ana Muriel have been my teachers for over 3 years and continue to transform and inspire and strengthen so much that I experience and share. I also love practicing my friend’s classes - during lockdown I’ve got into a really nice routine of doing my friend Annie Rice’s (@anniekinsrice) Tuesday evening class via IG live, to me her class is like a crumpet covered in butter its just perfect right now.
Favourite tattoo artists?
Talia Migliaccio, Faye Oliver for perfect botanicals and Nara Ishikawa who did my lioness tattoo on my wrist. All handpokers.
During lockdown, what is the best thing to:
-read
I’ve just finished the second Sally Rooney and I’ve just started Three Women.
- watch
Classic Disney films and the new Killing Eve series which needs to hurry up!
- listen to
Al Green, The Kinks, George Harrison, Four Tet, Caribou
Too many to list!
- do or make
I’ve been getting back into painting and have some big plans for some embroidery..!
Also endless plans for tattooing myself!