American traditional tattoos
In this section you can find some of the latest tattoos in the style called American Traditional.
This is one of Stef’s areas of specialization and is characterized by bold lines, simplified designs rooted in folk art, a reduced palette and an overall approach towards “Less is more”. Also the priority in this style is focused on aging and readability, as the motto “Bold will hold” well synthesises.
Evolved in the 20th century across different countries, United States first but also UK and Denmark for instance, the designs have strong roots in the sailors community and in their beautiful simplicity well represent timeless concepts, such as affection, belonging, family, hardships, religious beliefs. These take form in familiar subjects such as butterflies, girls, roses, mermaids etc. and some of these symbols carried in the past specific meaning, like:
-A swallow tattoo could be received by a sailor for traveling 5,000 nautical miles.
-A fully-rigged ship often represented traversal of Cape Horn.
-An anchor tattoo historically indicated sailing across the Atlantic.
-A nautical star or a compass tattoo was believed to help the sailors navigate.
-A pig and a hen were usually tattooed on each foot (pig on the left, chicken on the right) as protection against drowning in a shipwreck.
Standing on the shoulders of Giants, tattooers like Bert Grimm, Percy Waters, Sailor Jerry, Cap. Coleman, Dan Higgs, Owen Jensen, Stef keeps working towards perfecting the classic, offering custom tattooing that aims at respecting the tradition while carrying the torch.
