When Nina Kauffman started her tattooing apprenticeship, she’d never set foot inside a tattoo shop. She didn’t even have any tattoos yet.
“For some reason, there's always been this stigma of having to be really hardcore and scary to be a tattoo artist,” Kauffman said.
But that’s not who she wanted to be. Kauffman, a young Asian woman in her mid 20s, loves cute, girly designs and often brings in stuffed animals to comfort her clients during a session.
“I was met with some friction when I first started because they thought I was too sensitive to be an artist. But I think being sensitive is one of the best things you can be when you're tattooing other people,” she said.
The most painful part
Now Kauffman has 24 tattoos, from a large flower on her palm to a spiky Garfield flail on her shin. For the past couple of years, she has run a small tattoo shop in Denton called Golden Girl Tattoo Parlor. The shop is explicitly created to be an inclusive space for people who may not feel comfortable or welcome at a traditional tattoo studio.
“I've worked at shops where there's racism, sexism, just really inappropriate things,” Kauffman said. “I've always wanted a nice little safe space where people can just come in and not be afraid to ask for what they want.”
More tattoo shops like Gold Girl have popped up around North Texas during the pandemic. Dolls House of Ink and Lilac Tattoo Studio, both in Dallas, are built with inclusivity in mind. But it’s not just the flower walls, cursive neon signs and cuddly stuffed animals that make these spaces feel unique. Golden Girl Tattoo Parlor makes it a point to ask for people’s pronouns when they make an appointment, and both Dolls House and Lilac are owned by Black women and have all-female staff.
Kauffman said it’s sad for her to think about the harsh experiences some clients have at traditional tattoo shops, like being mocked for their ideas, pushed into tattoos they didn’t want or belittled because of who they are.
“It just kind of sucks that you could go into a tattoo shop, and the most painful part isn't even getting the tattoo,” Kauffman said.
Welcome to the Dolls House
Dolls House of Ink’s Carolyn Reeves, who goes by “Doll,” had a vision for a female-run tattoo shop for years, but didn’t have any luck finding a spot for it. In 2020, a storefront space near Love Field opened, and she jumped at the opportunity.
On a regular day, Reeves sees anywhere from three to seven clients, depending on the size and detail of a tattoo. She has 7 tattoo artists and hopes to relocate to a larger space and add three more artists soon.
Tattoo studios haven’t been the most welcoming to Black women, Reeves said. That’s another reason she wanted her own shop. She believes Dolls House may be the first tattoo shop in the city owned by Black women.
Lilac Tattoo Studio, started by artist Dominique Ransom, opened just a few months after Dolls House. Starting businesses in 2020, when so many others were struggling to stay afloat, may seem like an odd choice, but both Ransom and Reeves say the timing was right for them.
Ransom used to work at a tattoo studio in Oak Lawn. She was surprised the shop didn’t seem to have a strong connection to the queer community. Ransom wanted to create a space where queer clients would feel welcome, and also where she could cater specifically to her female clients with an all-female staff.
“I've only been around so much masculine energy. But now, it's such a powerful thing to know that I have an extremely badass group of ladies,” Ransom said.
A gift that lasts a lifetime
Ransom is used to being the only female artist in a tattoo shop. And wherever she has worked, female clients have sought her out. She said that's probably because tattooing and piercing can involve a lot of intimate physical contact, and many women just feel more comfortable around other women.
Ransom wanted Lilac to look different from traditional tattoo shops. Flower walls and feminine, lavender decor ultimately helped the business go viral on social media. Now, with business going well, she’s opening a second location in North Fort Worth.
Kauffman said creating a comforting environment may seem trivial for a tattoo shop, but it makes a difference. Clients have often told her how much they appreciated the small things, like her stuffed animals, in calming their nerves before their first tattoos.
“We get to give people a gift that'll last them the rest of their life,” she said. “So it's really important to me to just listen to people and make sure everyone is happy and comfortable.”
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