Boutique Design - July/August 2019 - 55

BODY OF WORK
Moxy Hotels puts some skin in the lifestyle branding
game with pop-up tattoo parlors starring ink queen
Megan Massacre's bad ass stylings.
BY ANNMARIE MARTIN

SEEKING A "TRANSFORMATIVE" hospitality experience? Well, how
about a permanent reminder of the best stay of your life? Tattoo parlors
popping up at Moxy hotel openings across the country can tick that box
with body art applied by none other than megastar ink artist Megan
Massacre, who's reinterpreting pieces from the brand's Blank Canvas art
program into designs of her own. Here's our own special meet and greet
with this game changer.
WHO'D YOU HAVE TO KILL TO GET THE NAME "MASSACRE?"

COUR TE S Y OF MOX Y HOTEL S

It started as a silly nickname that me and my friends made up when I was
a kid going to hardcore music shows. The themes were violent and all
about busting heads. We were young and small in comparison to a lot of
the older and tougher groups there. Instead of letting ourselves get picked
on we still went and made up tough names for ourselves. Mine was Megan
Massacre. It was the total opposite of me as a human being but perfect for
mocking those people.
I used it to my advantage again when I started doing television. On my
first season of New York Ink, I was pretty authentically myself. While many
were very excited about the show, a lot of people were talking mad shit, as
people often do when you put yourself out there to the public. The things
they attacked were very personal aspects of my personality. I took it to
heart. I would say I built off that secondary persona of Megan Massacre
and would switch it on and off when I was filming. Basically, it was the
polished version of myself that was acceptable to the public.

creative space. I can listen to black metal while tattooing images of flowers
and cute kittens all day. One day my studio space looks like a well-organized
art museum and the next day we print out and glue the artist's photographs
and googly eyes to the heads in the paintings just because. Everything
about my personal, studio and tattoo style is very organic and that changes
daily. It's very emotional. I know that curation is very "in," but I just can't
bring myself to waste the time on all that thought process. I'm too busy
absorbing inspiration from the world around me and trying to make things.
WHAT DESIGNERS AND GENRES HAVE BEEN YOUR GREATEST
INFLUENCES IN FASHION?

Alexander McQueen for his dark sense of romanticism and Betsey Johnson
with her bright colors and exaggerated accessories.

WHAT'S A DAY IN THE LIFE LIKE AT NYC'S WOOSTER ST. SOCIAL CLUB?

WHAT WOULD BE THE DEAL MAKERS/BREAKERS IF YOU WERE HIRING

The tattoo shop has a community vibe to it. It changes a lot from day to
day, but there's always a bunch of us running around and lots of tattoos
happening. Our workspace is pretty wide-open, so we are all tattooing
next to each other. Artists and clients are involved in conversations and
we're all listening to music together. The neighborhood doggies come in to
visit on a daily basis. We even have a basket of toys for them to play with!

AN INTERIOR DESIGN FIRM FOR A NEW TATTOO STUDIO/BOUTIQUE?

YOUR CLOTHING LINE AND TATTOO PARLOR GRIT N GLORY, AS WELL
AS YOUR PERSONAL STYLE, DRAW HEAVILY FROM METAL/HARDCORE,
WHILE MANY OF YOUR TATTOOS READ AS MORE MODERN, WITH FEMININE THEMES AND MOTIFS. HOW DO YOU SEE THOSE INFLUENCES AS
WORKING TOGETHER IN SPACES YOU'D LIKE TO TATTOO IN?

I think that not everything has to be streamlined and make sense in a

I grew up in an era when tattoo shops were the hangouts of the unsavory.
While I'm happy that my industry is modernizing and becoming more
popular and accessible to the public, there's a part of me that prefers it to stay
classic. The idea of walking into a tattoo shop that looks like a doctor's office
or a coffee shop is like the death of cool to me. While cleanliness and hygiene
are obviously top priorities, the grit and grime of it all has to still be there.
A tattoo studio should also be full of artistic inspiration for both artist and
client, and relaxed enough so that both feel comfortable. My studio in NYC is
filled with paintings, art books and objects used for drawing reference. You
need enough fun and distraction so clients aren't focused on the pain they are
going through. And remember, tattoo artists are usually a wild group, so
there's no lack of a party feel when you get a group of us in any space. 
JULY + AUGUST 2019 boutiquedesign.com

http://www.boutiquedesign.com

Boutique Design - July/August 2019

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