Saigon Ink, March 2020, Vietnam

Amazon Dövme was supposed to have a stand at the 2020 Saigon Tattoo Expo in Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam in March 2020, but the convention was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. We decided to go to Vietnam anyway, seeing as though we had already bought flights and, at that stage, the Coronavirus outbreak was very recent and hadn’t spread to Vietnam yet.

While we were there we had the opportunity to meet Danis Nguyen, owner of Saigon Ink tattoo studio and organiser of the Saigon Tattoo Expo.

It was Danis’s day off but, because we had come all the way and he’s such a nice guy, he came to meet us at the studio anyway – and then took us out for dinner and a couple of beers… and then for more drinks and some great live music at the Biker Shield Bistro. The Biker Shield Bistro is such a great venue and we had an incredible night with Danis – who was clearly a regular – and his friends.

If you’re heading to Ho Chi Minh City make sure to check out Biker Shield (Friday nights are best for live music apparently) and Saigon Ink.

We hope to be back in Vietnam for the next edition of the Saigon Tattoo Expo… whenever that may be!

Besides being an amazing tattoo artist, Danis is also a really good traditional Vietname-style painter. Check out his work on Instagram:
@danisnguyenink

You can also follow Biker Shield Bistro on Instagram for upcoming events and promos: @bikershieldbistro

Master’s Ink Tattoo, Phuket, Thailand

When we (Nimet and Jonathan) were in Phuket, Thailand, in January 2020 we were fortunate to meet with the insanely talented Jimmy Paykaw, owner of Master’s Ink Tattoo studio. Nimet asked him a few questions about bamboo tattooing, just before we each got one.

Didn’t work out as well as hoped due to the language barrier – both speaking in a language that was not their own – and was just shot on a mobile phone without any proper audio equipment.

Either way, Jimmy is an incredibly good tattoo artist and all round nice guy, so follow him on Instagram and make an appointment to see him if you ever go to Phuket. @masters_ink_tattoo_phuket

Thailand Tattoo Expo 2020

We were lucky to be a part of the Thailand Tattoo Expo 2020 in Bangkok, just before the lockdown brought about due to the Coronavirus pandemic saw most tattoo conventions around the world cancelled.