Q's Tattoos

Frank151: What’s your background?
Q: I was born in American Samoa, but I was raised in Hawaii. I come from a family of artists and I’m the only one that pursued tattooing. The others were graphic artists, all kinds of different media. No longer do they do art, just me. It all started off needing money for beer and cigarettes, and I didn’t wanna work. So I tattooed for them, and I’ve been tattooing ever since. I’ve been tattooing since 1989. That was the first tattoo I ever did. That was a needle and thread. Then I moved on with a little bit better stuff, like a homemade machine, back in the early ‘90s, and kept on going with that until a friend of mine actually fronted the money, and we put up the first-ever tattoo shop in American Samoa.
F151: What was it called?
Q: Q’s Tattoos. And we did that for about a year. Believe me, it didn’t work, because Samoan people ain’t tryin’ to pay for tattoos, and the economy there ain’t so great. And everything there had to be shipped from the US, and it’s considered international, I think. The majority of the companies then was like Huck Spalding, and those guys are all close to you guys, like in New York. There wasn’t really too many suppliers.
F151: How was a contemporary tattoo shop received in American Samoa? Did people frown on that?
Q: No, no. In fact, there was more excitement about it than frowning on it. When you grow up around that traditional kind of stuff, you always get excited for change. I was the one changing it around. I would still use the traditional patterns, but I would give it more detail, because you can only get so detailed with those tools. Those are made for real broad tattoos.
F151: Do you have a traditional tattoo?
Q: No, not yet. I’m gonna get one, though. I’ve just been too busy. But Suluape is actually part of my family, too. He always flies to Hawaii and he does them. You can’t really get too detailed with it, so everything stays traditional, which I like. That way, we don’t kill tradition with more modern stuff.
F151: How are you related to Suluape?
Q: My Grandma’s dad is Suluape’s dad’s brother. So my grandma and Suluape were first cousins. Every time the old man comes here to Hawaii, I always go by and see him. Everybody tells me I should go get one because, you know, I’m part of the family, but I say, “Nah, I’ll get it for the right reason.” You know what I mean? For you to get an actual tattoo like that, you gotta know everything about your culture. Some of these guys out here are getting the tattoo and don’t even know how to speak the language. That is frowned upon. Any funeral or any wedding, anything that has to do with those big deals, they call upon the people with the tattoos to do everything. And if you step up and you don’t know how to do it, then it’s kind of a disgrace to your parents’ name, or something like that. They will say, “Why did this kid get a tattoo and he doesn’t know how to speak, and he doesn’t know how to do this?” You gotta know your culture. I speak the language fluently. I was in Samoa for close to ten years. But I still feel that I’m not worthy of it yet. Plus, I gotta lose a little bit of weight.



So I came back to Hawaii in 1998, worked at many shops here in Hawaii, worked in Waikiki, and then I finally put up my own. I joined UCE Car Club back in 2000, the Hawaii chapter. And actually my wife is second cousins with Kita.

F151: Who are your influences?
Q: Probably one of my main was Su’a Suluape. There’s a lot of actual traditional artists back home in Samoa, but Su’a, he’s up there. I’ve kind of looked at his style, and then I’ve looked at other people’s styles, and the Su’a style is by far the best one I’ve seen. I’ve never seen a hand so straight, trying to tap something in. I try to take all of that and put it into my artwork.

F151: What’s your tattoo shop called?
Q: House of Ink Tattoo. I wanted to give it a more universal name, instead of a Polynesian name, ‘cause I wanna hit every type of client. Like a marine would walk by my shop and he probably wouldn’t come in if it had a Polynesian name. You know what I mean? So I gave it more of a universal name. But most of the work done that comes out of here is Samoan traditional, stuff like that. But then I also tackle all the other stuff, the neo-traditionals, the color bombs, the Japanese stuff. So that way we stay alive, you know?

www.houseofinktattoo.net