Taryn Nissen’s the heroine of ink

Without any formal training and pretty much because she was a bit infatuated, Taryn Nissen tattooed her first client on a whim.

It was late at night, she drove from Knysna to George to do it. But while she had no clue what she was doing, it was also the moment when she lost her ink-virginity.

The client was the young man she liked. The tattoo, fixing up someone’s already home-made attempt, was a disaster. But it was also the genesis of everything.

Now 30, Nissen owns boutique tattoo salon True Love in Linden, Johannesburg.

The studio has been around for six years and is filled to the brim with eye-candy art. The shop, she said, is curated like a tattoo artist would use a body.

“We treat the walls like skin,” she said.

“If there’s space, we fill it. It’s the same way we think about tattoos.

“About ninety-nine percent of what’s on our walls is by tattoo artists,” she said.

“Some are originals from artists we know, some are classic flash or pieces that reference traditional tattoo imagery. The last one percent is just stuff that clearly came from the same world and fits our vibe.”

It’s all about the vibe

And vibe is what it’s all about, infused with Nissen’s effervescent personality and undeniable optimism.

She’s not what you’d expect from a tattoo artist, but neither is she the girl next door. She’s fun, savvy and exceptionally talented. The arts are in her blood.

Nissen grew up between Benoni and Boksburg. Her dad was a well-known musician, her mom an artist.

“I feel very lucky to have been brought up surrounded by art,” she said. “They were really supportive. I always knew I wanted to be an artist.”

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After school, she packed her bags and left home. She felt that the world was her oyster and landed a gig as an au pair in Knysna.

The family she lived with saw her oil paintings and asked her to do some work for their non-profit diving project.

“They said Why don’t you do some paintings for our diving shirts? ‘” she said. “It was pin-ups and marine life. It’s what I still specialise in now. I was eighteen and suddenly also making money as an artist.”

I had never tattooed anyone before

Then, looping back to her beau at the time, who asked her to tattoo him, had started a design on himself and wasn’t sure how to finish it.

“He handed me the machine and said, I’m trying to tattoo myself, but I need help,” she said.

“I had never tattooed anyone before, never even seen it done in person, but I just said okay. And I tattooed his foot. I never want to see that tattoo again. It must be horrendous.”

But it worked. The experience was also a tipping point.

“Being able to tattoo someone in that weird, makeshift setting made me think maybe I could actually do this,” she said.

In hindsight, she said it was as if she was destined for it anyway.

“Even in high school, people used to give me five rand to draw on them. It was always something I was drawn to.” 

Today, Nissen specialises in traditional tattoo style, the bold outlines and solid colours of old-school flash.

She’s also an avid collector of porcelain cats. There are tigers and cheetahs of various shapes and sizes littered all over the studio. But it kind of fits the aesthetic and Nissen’s larger-than-life character.

“They’re mostly from the 1950s,” she said. “Some were signed by the artists.”

To her, these porcelains have the same energy as the tigers and panthers in classic tattoo designs. “They’re quirky, kitsch and hard to find. So, when I do find them, it’s a moment.”

A love for ceramic cats

Nissen’s studio has attracted a wide array of clients, from the dodgy to the stodgy to the adventurous and the ridiculous.

Yet she doesn’t do everything that’s asked of her.

“We don’t have to take on work we don’t feel comfortable with,” she said. “If someone asks for something that doesn’t align, I’ll give a cheeky comment, and they usually get the message.”

She gets all kinds of requests but knows when to draw the line, recalling one instance in particular.

“A female client wanted a tribal flower with a chocolate brown centre tattooed around her butthole with ‘nasty bitch’ written in the design,” she said.

“She’d drawn it herself. I passed on the opportunity, but there was no judgment. It’s just not our thing.”

Tattooing, she said, is intimate.

“You spend hours with someone, more time than with your family. And when people are in a bit of pain, they talk. We call it truth serum.”

But ultimately, she said, the studio space is sacred.

“If someone brings weird energy or isn’t the right fit, we say so,” she said.

“We want it to be a positive space. It’s about making people feel more like themselves.”

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