Step inside this cozy, house-turned-business on Oak Street, and you will find a welcoming, inclusive space filled with house plants, lavender walls and wood floors. It certainly feels much more homey than your average tattoo parlor with the friendly smiles of artists ready to dive into a conversation on any nerdy passion.
Myth Tattoo Studio is also the only local tattoo shop completely owned and operated by women.
“It’s definitely a rare thing to have a female-owned and operated tattoo shop,” Eryn Derderian, a tattoo artist who co-owns the shop with fellow artist Kinsey Tennison, said. “So we’re proud of our spot here.”
Sam Benno, who has been an artist in the shop for two years, noted the pressure women experience — feeling forced to be a certain way when working in the male-dominated tattoo industry.
“Tattooing in the nature that it is, it’s personal and it’s intimate,” Benno said. “You shouldn’t ever have to feel pressure just to be able to level up or gain respect from your male peers.”
While Derderian noted that no one at the shop has any ill will toward the male tattooers of the industry, she also discussed the challenges she and her colleagues have faced with male artists when getting their own tattoos.
“Most of our tattoo experiences that were negative were with male tattooers,” Derderian said. “Especially older, male tattooers.”
As veteran customers of the tattoo community know, there are a number of anxieties and bad experiences one can have while getting a tattoo — from miscommunication leading to a tattoo completely different from your vision to an artist disrespecting your boundaries. Negative experiences like these are part of what drives Derderian and her colleagues to ensure a positive experience for their customers.
“Respecting people’s body autonomy, respecting people’s levels of modesty. These are all really important things for us that we feel have been overlooked in our experiences getting tattoos,” Derderian said, after discussing the shop’s focus on making the customer’s voice heard and maintaining kind and professional communication prior to the tattoo.
Kaye Hutchinson, a customer that got her tattoo from Tennison last year, can confirm that the shop is true to its word on maintaining a comfortable atmosphere.
“It’s such a welcoming environment; they’re so nice,” Hutchinson said, going on to state how the nerves she felt beforehand went away once she started talking with the artist. “It was really easy to just separate myself from the pain that was happening and absorb myself in the conversation.”
Derderian also emphasized the shop’s efforts to maintain an inclusive and welcoming environment for members of marginalized communities.
“We don’t tolerate any kind of bigotry, racism, sexisim, ect.,” Derderian said. “We are very vocal about those topics and very much a safe space.”
Benno noted the progress the tattoo industry has made with inclusion overall in the last decade, with an increase in marginalized communities working in the previously exclusive industry.
“Queer people, non-binary people, people of color have more spaces now,” Benno said, after stating that the same is true for women. “It’s really cool to be a part of it and watch it happen.”
As for what customers should keep in mind when looking for a place to get tattooed, both Benno and Derderian had the same advice: Do your homework on the artist.
“Really look at the shop or the person that you’re getting tattooed by,” Derderian said, adding that your research shouldn’t be just surface level. “I think that people think every tattooer can do the same things, and that’s just not the case.”
Benno also said it is good to scroll through an artist’s portfolio account to make sure the tattoo you want aligns with the artist’s style and goals. This way, if the tattoo ends up a little different than you expected, it is still a style that you can enjoy.
Bookings at Myth Tattoo Studio can be done through email at [email protected]. You can also follow @myth_tattoo_studio on Instagram and see more of the work from the artists in the shop.
