新新人類: 從紋身師到設計師

At 15, Saira Hunjan took her mother along to meet the person with whom she would do work experience in the school holidays. “You know there’s going to be a lot of swearing,” he warned the mother and daughter. So began Ms Hunjan’s career as a tattoo artist. The 32-year-old’s introduction to the industry was at Barry Louvaine’s tattoo parlour in south London. The late Louvaine, the adoptive son of a circus performer, tattooed celebrities including actors Mickey Rourke and Drew Barrymore.

15歲時，還在上學的賽拉.胡尼揚(Saira Hunjan)拉着媽媽一起，去假期打工的地方見她未來的老闆。那位老闆警告這對母女說：“在這兒工作會聽到不少髒話的。”就這樣，在倫敦南部這家名爲巴里盧韋納(Barry Louvaine)的紋身店，胡尼揚的紋身師之路開始了。胡尼揚今年32歲。當年的老闆盧韋納如今已去世，他是一名馬戲團演員的養子，曾爲演員米基?魯爾克(Mickey Rourke)和德魯?巴里摩爾(Drew Barrymore)等名人紋過身。

As a teenager Ms Hunjan was fascinated by the traditions of body adornment, particularly Indian decorative art, fabric patterns and temples. She was “forever drawing”, first on paper then on herself before moving on to the arms and legs of willing friends. After buying a tattoo magazine she knew what she wanted to do. Her parents, Indians born in Uganda and Kenya, did not try to steer her on to a more sensible path – her father, who worked in electronic repairs, used to do oil paintings and portraits in biro in his spare time. After entering her interests into a computer programme at the school career service she was offered a variety of stints at conventional offices. “I thought ‘I don’t want to do any of these’.” So she sought out Louvaine.

在少女時期，胡尼揚就非常迷戀傳統的身體紋繪藝術（特別是印度裝飾藝術）、紡織品圖案以及寺廟。她“一天到晚都在畫畫”，一開始在紙上畫，然後在自己身上畫，接下來發展到在願意給她畫的朋友的胳膊和腿上畫。在買了一本紋身雜誌之後，她就知道自己想要做什麼了。她的父母（分別是出生在烏干達和肯尼亞的印度人）並沒有試圖引導她走一條更理智的道路。她的父親在電子維修店工作，曾在業餘時間畫油畫和圓珠筆肖像畫。在學校職業服務處，她在一個計算機項目中填入了自己的興趣，隨後接到了一些常規辦公室工作的邀請。胡尼揚說：“我心想，‘這些工作我一個都不感興趣。’”於是她找到了盧韋納。

It wasn’t until she was 17 that she had her first tattoo. Today most of her body is covered, she says, apart from a “few bits on [her] sides”. She has stopped working on her body though rarely feels self-conscious if anyone is staring at her: “I don’t even think about it. I guess the older I get I don’t mind.”

胡尼揚17歲的時候才紋了第一個紋身。她說，現在除了“身體兩側的一些地方”，她身上大部分地方都有紋身。她已經不再做新的紋身了，但如果有人盯着她看，她很少會覺得不好意思。她說：“我甚至想都不會想這件事。我覺得年齡再大一些，我就會完全不在意了。”

While studying for a fine arts degree at Camberwell College of Art she was also apprenticed to a studio in Surrey. This involved “cleaning, making tea, earning my keep and proving that I really wanted to do this. Then alongside I learnt to tattoo.” First, practising on bananas and grapefruit, before moving on to friends and colleagues at the tattoo parlour. “Some of these people are so heavily tattooed that they’re up for you having a go.” Over time she learnt how different skin reacts to pressure, how not to overwork the skin.

在坎伯韋爾藝術學院(Camberwell College of Art)修讀美術時，胡尼揚還在薩里(Surrey)的一個工作室當學徒。作爲學徒，她的工作包括“做清潔、沏茶、賺取生活費，以及證明自己誠心想做這一行。此外就是學習紋身技術”。最初，她在香蕉和葡萄上練習，然後在紋身會所的朋友和同事身上練手。“他們中有些人身上有很多紋身，他們願意讓你練練手。”逐漸的，她瞭解了不同皮膚對針刺力度的不同反應，以及如何避免過深刺入皮膚。

The work can be emotionally intense for both tattooist and client. Tattoos can mark the start of a new life after a break-up or a memorial to a dead friend or relative. She recalls one significant job: tattooing a goddess with peacock feathers across the chest of a client who had had a double mastectomy. “My job can have a powerful impact on an individual and help in the healing process.”

紋身師和顧客可能會對紋身傾注很多感情。人們會在分手後紋身，以示打算開始新生活；在一名親人或朋友去世後紋身，以紀念逝者。胡尼揚回憶起一次令她印象深刻的紋身：在一位做了雙乳切除的客戶胸部，紋一個帶有孔雀羽毛的女神圖案。”我的工作可能對一個人產生重大影響，並幫助他們復原。“

Today she has a two-year waiting list and can command “at least” ￡100 an hour. She has painted swallows on supermodel Kate Moss and elaborate tattoos on bankers who don’t want the designs to be below the shirt cuffs or above the collar.

如今，胡尼揚的客戶預約名單都排到兩年後了，每小時收費“至少”爲100美元。她爲超模凱特?莫斯(Kate Moss)紋過幾只燕子，還爲一些銀行家紋過身。那些銀行家不希望紋身露出袖口或領口。

But, having moved to Wales from London “to get out of all the craziness and connect with nature”, she has branched into other areas. Collaborating with leather goods maker Ettinger, she has produced wallets and purses as well as working on swimwear, tents and prints. In doing so she has joined a small but growing number of tattoo artists who are extending their creative skills beyond body adornment to luxury goods.

但“爲了擺脫喧囂、親近大自然“，胡尼揚從倫敦搬到了威爾士，並開始向其他領域發展。通過與皮具製造商Ettinger合作，她製作了男女式錢包、游泳衣、帳篷以及版畫。這樣一來，她便加入了一個目前人數較少但在不斷壯大的紋身師隊伍，他們都在將自己的創作技能從身體紋飾拓展到奢侈品設計。

Mo Coppoletta, who owns The Family Business tattoo parlour in Clerkenwell, has worked with Liberty, the department store known for its paisley prints, on a series of fabrics, as well as designs for the Parisian fanmaker Duvelleroy and Romain Jerome, the watchmaker.

莫?卡波萊塔(Mo Coppoletta)在英國克勒肯維爾(Clerkenwell)開了一家名爲“家族企業”(The Family Business)的紋身店。他已與利伯提百貨商店（Liberty，它的渦紋圖案十分著名）合作設計了一系列紡織品，並與巴黎制扇工坊Duvelleroy、手錶製造商羅曼傑羅姆(Romain Jerome)合作設計了一些產品。

“Very few tattoo artists have the vision to expand the brand,” he says. He has recently doubled the amount of space in his parlour.

卡波萊塔說：“很少紋身藝術家有那樣的遠見，去拓展自己的品牌。”他最近將自己的紋身店面積擴大了一倍。

Tattoo artists should look beyond body art if they want a long-term future, says James Sandercock, editor of Total Tattoo . “There has been a massive explosion in tattooing in the last ten years. People’s attitudes have changed – the generation have grown up with it on TV, websites and blogs. From a small niche area it has grown massively to become part of a youth movement. So many people are tattooed that there are generations coming through that see it as normal. It is no longer taboo and the next generation may opt out of tattooing because it is so mainstream.”

《Total Tatto》主編詹姆斯?桑德科克(James Sandercock)說，如果希望有一個長遠的未來，刺青藝術家應該將眼界拓展到身體藝術以外。“過去十年裏，紋身出現了突飛猛進的發展。人們的態度發生了改變，這代人從小就在電視、網站和博客上看到紋身。紋身已經從一種小衆行爲，發展爲青少年潮流的一部分。有如此多人紋身，成長於這種潮流中的幾代人都對紋身司空見慣。紋身已不再是禁忌，下一代人可能都不會選擇去紋身，因爲它已經變得太主流了。”

Ms Hunjan – who used to work at The Family Business – is horrified by the ease with which people can set themselves up as tattoo artists. “Everything is available on the internet; it is quite scary?.?.?.?People won’t learn about hygiene.” In the past five years she says there has been an explosion of people entering the industry.

胡尼揚曾在“家族企業”紋身店工作過。如今當紋身師如此容易，這讓胡尼揚感到震驚。“一切資料都可以從網絡上獲取，這很嚇人……人們不會去學習有關衛生操作的知識。”她指出，過去5年中，進入這個行業的人呈爆炸式增長。

A Pew Research poll from 2010 found nearly four in 10 American “Millenials” (those in their teens and 20s) had a tattoo (and for most who do, one is not enough: about half of those with tattoos have two to five and 18 per cent have six or more). It also found that 32 per cent of people aged 30 to 45 had a tattoo.

皮尤研究(Pew Research)2010年的一項調查發現，在美國“千禧一代”（他們現在十幾二十歲）中，每10個人中就有4個有紋身（他們中大部分人有不止一個紋身——大約有一半有兩個到五個，有18%的人有六個甚至更多）。調查還發現，30歲至45歲人羣中有32%的人有紋身。

In part this is due to reality television shows such as Miami Ink, which started in 2005 and led to the spin-offs London Ink, NY Ink and LA Ink. They helped normalise tattoos as well as launch some of its artists as stars. Kat Von D, one of the original show’s tattoo artists, became a celebrity, dating M?tley Crüe bassist Nikki Six and TV star Jesse James, and capitalised on her fame by producing several merchandising spin-offs including T-shirts and hoodies as well as a cosmetics line.

造成這種狀況的部分原因在於一些電視真人秀節目，比如2005年開播的《邁阿密紋身師》(Miami Ink)。該節目後來又衍生出了《倫敦紋身師》(London Ink)、《紐約紋身師》(NY Ink)、以及《洛杉磯紋身師》(LA Ink)。這些節目推動了紋身的主流化，並讓一些紋身師成了明星。《邁阿密紋身師》中的一名紋身師凱特?馮迪(Kat Von D)就已躋身名流，先後跟克魯小丑樂團(M?tley Crüe)的貝司手尼基?西克斯(Nikki Sixx)和電視明星傑西?詹姆斯(Jesse James)約會，還利用自己的名氣製作了多種周邊產品，包括T恤、帽衫以及一個彩妝品牌。

Sion Smith, editor of Skin Deep, a British tattoo magazine, agrees that the market – which has proven resilient to the recession – is saturated. However, he believes the elite will always be in demand as well as less-skilled tattooists catering to legions of people who “want their husband’s name on their arm”. It is the mid-range studios on the high street that have grown in reaction to tattooing’s fads and fashions that are most vulnerable.

有人認爲，雖然事實證明，紋身市場抵抗衰退的能力很強，但這一市場已經飽和。英國紋身雜誌《膚深》(Skin Deep)主編賽恩?史密斯(Sion Smith)認同這一觀點。但他認爲，頂尖的高端紋身師始終將供不應求，水平最一般的低端紋身師亦然（總有許多“想要把丈夫的名字紋在胳膊上”的顧客，他們能夠滿足這些顧客的需求），開在鬧市區的中端紋身店是最容易受到經濟波動衝擊的。受紋身潮流的影響，中端紋身店的數量一直在增長。

At the top end, the market is now international. “It’s not about walking into your nearest studio,” says Ms Hunjan. “It’s about [selecting an artist] and getting on a train or flying to a different country because this is who you want to work on you.”

在紋身領域，最高端市場如今是國際化的。胡尼揚說：“距離的遠近根本不是問題，關鍵是（選擇心儀的紋身師）,哪怕要坐火車或者搭飛機去另一個國家也沒關係，因爲你就是想讓這個人給你紋身。”

A number of her clients have flown in from New York and across Europe. “It’s going to be on you for the rest of your life?.?.?.?It’s like getting a custom suit made.”

她有很多客戶都是從紐約和歐洲各地搭飛機過來的。“紋身在你的餘生將一直印在你身上……就好像一套定製的衣服。”

For Mr Coppoletta, moving into other areas is not just about increasing his career longevity, it is about sustaining job satisfaction. “You can’t be creative and inspired all the time. When you do any job you experience – like in relationships – love and passions. It’s a rollercoaster. There’s times when you are inspired and others when you can’t find the motivation. It’s easy to fall into apathy but it’s up to you to keep yourself going.”

對卡波萊塔來說，向其他領域發展不僅是爲了延長職業壽命，還是爲了維持對工作的滿意度。“你無法始終保持創造力充沛、靈感不斷。你做任何工作時，都會體驗愛與激情，就像談戀愛時一樣。這種過程就像坐過山車，有時靈感勃發，有時缺乏動力。你很容易產生倦怠感，但前進的動力要靠你自己去找。”