Interview: Kate & Nicole of Ryot Tattoo Co

1. You guys seem like the perfect couple, how long have you been together and how did you meet?

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First of all, thank you! We’ve been together almost 6 years, we met first of all in a gay bar in Nottingham called propaganda where I followed Kate around all night trying to figure out if she was gay or not I think.. Kate later found me on facebook, I went to her birthday party a couple of weeks later & we’ve not spent a day apart since.

2. Congratulations on the engagement, fill us in who proposed to who, how did it happen and when’s the big day?

Thank you again! I proposed to Kate underwater at the blue lagoon in Greece whilst we were on holiday with our friends in Corfu, I actually made a video of the engagement that you can watch on our YouTube page – cakecolee. We’re planning on getting married in August next year at our favourite beach bar in Corfu.

3. We’re big tattoo fans here at NL, tell us more about your joint business Ryot Tattoo Co. How did it all start?

Ryot tattoo co is pretty new, we are an all female tattoo & piercing studio that opened in Rugby, Warwickshire in April this year but already is a huge success, we have a lot of amazing customers that we now call friends. We went to Epidermis tattoo convention in Devon in October where I won my first award – first place blackwork which was a huge surprise to me!

4. How did you both get into Tattooing and where did you learn?

We both wanted to get into tattooing from coming out of school but it’s such a hard industry to get into. I studied graphic design at college & Kate studied fashion so we both went into something quite creative. We started tattooing after about a year and a half being together, we bought a basic kit off eBay and basically scribbled on each other until we went back to do our second season working in Corfu where a guy came across what we had done on each other and we were pretty much in the studio the next day. It was a huge opportunity for us and we didn’t waste it, we tattooed from 2 in the afternoon until 6 in the morning some days, it was like a very intense apprenticeship learning from 3 or 4 awesome tattoo artist at a time!

5. For any women or girls that would like to get into becoming a tattoo artist, what advice do you have?

The best way to get into tattooing is through apprenticeships, get together a good portfolio of drawings with a wide range of things you can do, go into studios with it and see if they have any places for you available.

6. Are you inspired by any other tattoo artists, if so who?

There are a lot of awesome artist around the world that we follow on Instagram and meet at conventions, we have so many artist inspirations it would take me all day to list them!

7. It’s clear from your social media that you love to travel, what’s your favourite place you’ve visited and where will you be heading to next?

We do love to travel but anywhere we go it will never be as good as Corfu, we moved to Corfu after being together only 4 months we spent 3 months working there in 2012, 5 months there in 2013 & 5 months there in 2014. We have so many local friends in Corfu that we go back to see every year and of course got engaged there this year it’s such a beautiful island!

8. Are you in London any time soon for our readers to book in a tattoo with you?

We are not in London any time soon unfortunately, we might drop by for London tattoo convention next year.

However, our studio is only an hour train journey from London Euston.

9. If there was a magic telephone and you could call yourself at 15, what would you tell yourself?

If I could call my 15-year-old self I would tell her “yes, you are gay & you don’t need that boyfriend!”

Kate would tell herself to “stop being such a worry & that everything will work out eventually”

10. Draw us your finest Nonchalant doodle.

We went for digital – we don’t do paper drawings anymore.

11. You guys are vegetarians, where’s the best veggie/vegan place you’ve eaten?

We’ve yet to find a veggie restaurant only veggie friendly ones. Our number one is a beach bar called La Buena Vida they do theeee best veggie burritos ever but that is in Mexico, so a little far to travel In England, we love a place called Grill stock in Leicester – their Mac & cheeseburger is beaut!

12. Lastly, what are your new year’s resolutions?

New Year’s resolution is to build our own house & get 100 dogs.

Thanks, guys,

NL

Last Updated on 25th April 2022 by Nonchalant Magazine

Nonchalant Magazine
Nonchalant Magazine

This article was written by one of our creative team writers here at Nonchalant Magazine.