The "unfuckwithable" In City Ink tattoo gang

“We’re at a point where we’re unfuckwithable …” snarls Kortez as we start the interview.
He’s part of the three-man team that started In City Ink (ICI), a professional tattoo and piercing studio neatly tucked between an internet café and an African hair salon, right next door to 012 Central in Pretoria CBD.

ICI had been interviewed on Cliff Central several days before; the buzz it gave them on social networks and the streets is louder than the tattoo gun’s humming in the studio. It’s also inflated Kortez’s ego a bit. Since holding the audio recorder, he’s spilling everything out.

“I’m not bragging, but we have the highest foot traffic of any tattoo parlour in Pretoria; our piercing standards are among the best in Africa. Currently we’re the only black-owned piercing studio that is accredited with STUDEX – the largest piercing manufacturer in the world, and we’re the only tattoo parlour in Gauteng registered to use and sell Studdex products exclusively, which is something usually done by licensed pharmacies and clinics.”

Looking at the bustling rush hour traffic and the congested sidewalks outside, it’s easy to see why there are customers visiting the store since we started talking a few minutes ago, but ICI is far from being the only tattoo parlour on this busy inner city strip. Many of the ubiquitous internet cafés and hair salons in PTA central rent out claustrophobic spaces to makeshift tattoo and piercing studios; this is also where ICI had its humble beginnings.

“The first space we rented was a small corner in an internet café in 2010, but we were forced to relocate abruptly because they had to renovate the place. Fortunately in 2011 we rented a much better space in an upstairs room in a nearby hair salon.”

The trio built their reputation from this noisy hair salon, with Kortez winning the ‘Most Ambitious Hustler of the Year’ award at the 2012 Hall of Fame Awards and ICI scooping ‘Most Influential Organisation of the Year’ in 2013. They opened this shop in 2014, which employs three full time artists, a piercer and an assistant, and schools two interns. Depending on size and detail, tattoos start at R350 while piercings go from R150, but they don’t tattoo under-18s or pierce under-16s even with adult consent.


“What sets us apart from the other studios here is that we focus on providing high quality tattoos and piercings, we have strict hygiene rules and we’re obviously the only downtown studio that’s not inside an internet café or hair salon. We also throw events, sell In City Ink clothing and are planning on opening a website for online orders.”

Though they’re the only black-owned registered parlour in an industry dominated by white artists, ICI faces similar challenges – battling negative stigmas associated with tattoos and the boredom of drawing clichéd designs like stars, birds and infinity signs. But they do possess one advantage their Caucasian counterparts in the suburbs might envy, dark-skin clientele.

“Because of our location in town, the majority of our customers are Africans, and any artist can tell you if you can tattoo dark skin you can kill any other skin. Many customers from reputable parlours have come here requesting touch-ups because the original artist thought he could tattoo black skin using the same techniques as white skin.”

While his partners Ernest and Sparks are the hard-core tattooists, Kortez specialises in piercings and even went on a rigorous six month course in Sandton where he learnt the delicate art of genital piercing. "I've completed many genital piercings without mutilating anyone. Though the vast majority are vaginal piercings, I’ve done a couple of Prince Alberts too,” says Kortez triumphantly.

We wrap up the interview so he can assist the queue of impatient customers accumulating at reception.

He’s soon stretching latex gloves over his hands, preparing to pierce a couple of excited young girls.

How do you rate In City Ink compared to other high end tattoo parlours?

Would you trust these guys to pierce your privates  if you wanted genital piercings?

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Where? 393 Elang House Church Street, Pretoria
Trading Hours? 9am – 5 30pm daily
Contact? Sparks 0713655359 / Ernest 0822624390 / Kortez 0724964668

Social Networks? Facebook; In City Ink Tattoos and Body Piercings, Instagram: incityink_tattoos

Originally published as You Cant Mess With In City Ink on JHBLIVE