ISSUE 26. ARCHIVE. MYSPACE. CONTACT. LINKS

By Sofia Mella

If you find yourself in need of a shark tattoo on your hand and you’re spending a few days in Singapore, I recommend you visit Gimme Love Tattoo.  The studio is located on Dunlop Street, Little India, a special part of town that looks and smells just like the real thing except without the raw sewage.  Above The Countryside Café, the hum of tattoo machines waft down onto the street below.  

Owned by Augustine Nezumi, the Dunlop street shop is actually the second Gimme Love.  Number one is over the other side of town, but demand for quality tattooing has grown substantially in recent years and the second shop has prospered.  

My lifeline in Singapore has always been tattooist Lionel Ng, who works alongside five others at Gimme Love 2.  Lionel plays a part in organizing the Singapore Tattoo Convention and should really charge for his services as a tour guide of this surprising city.  On my last trip to Singapore I didn’t seeing so many tattooed folk.  That was six years ago.  Things seem to have changed.  Heavily tattooed boys and girls shop on Orchard road and hang out at Loof Bar.  And the standard is high.  Lionel told me there are fifty tattoo studios in the city, which in a country of 4 million is nothing to sniff about.  The Japanese tattoo is done well here, though our Lionel has a real thing for Maori and tribal tattooing.

The next Singapore convention is in November 2010, and if last year’s line up is anything to do by (Paul Booth, Chris Garver, Bob Tyrell) it ought to be pretty big.  

Enjoy the art of Gimme Love x