Today we’d like to introduce you to Rosie Ruther.
Hi Rosie, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always been an artist, fascinated especially with portraits. When I was younger I suffered from prosopognosia (face blindness) that prevented me from perceiving faces like normal. By illustrating the faces of people I loved from photographs and studying the architecture of the face, I was able to “see” their faces clearly for the first time. This motivated me strongly to become a solid portrait artist and throughout school I enjoyed taking as many art classes as possible.
I also enjoyed Welding in high school and ended up making that my career for a few years, earning me the “Rosie” nickname, i.e.: Rosie the Riveter. When I began my tattooing apprenticeship at Vivid Tattoo in 2012 I adopted the nickname for good. After six years with Vivid Tattoo and building a loyal client base, I decided to pursue my dream of owning my own studio with a more modern booth rental business model. Industry standard used to be a 50% split between artist and studio, which I always felt was unfair.
I opened Rosie Tattoos on April 1st, 2012, right after the Covid pandemic had shut down personal services in TN. We were closed for one month, but quickly got business back up and running in May, 2020. Instead of taking a large percentage of each tattoo an artist in my studio does, I charge a reasonable monthly rental price for the space the artist uses. This model is much more artist friendly and allows my people to keep more of their hard earned income.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Opening right at the outbreak of Covid was stressful, but thanks to loans from the SBA and massive support from my amazing clients, we were able to navigate the first year of opening without too much stress. For the first couple years we required masking to help keep our artists and clients healthy.
The hardest part for me has been when artists move on to new opportunities. I consider my people family, and while its good to see them succeed in their careers and open their own studios, it is hard to say goodbye. Everyone who moves on makes room for new artists and new energy though, and I love learning from all the new artists and friends in the industry I’ve made over the years.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My favorite specialty is covering up or re-working old tattoos that people don’t love anymore. It’s something most artists don’t enjoy. Personally, I love the challenge of making something old into something entirely new. I also LOVE the amount of joy people get when they see a tattoo they hated turn into a beautiful new piece of art that they adore.
I consider tattooing to be sacred and it can be very healing, especially when covering an old tattoo that might have a traumatic back-story, or even just something they thought was ugly and are ashamed to have on their body. By focusing on cover ups and reworks over the years I have helped countless clients reclaim their bodies and I’m very proud of that.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I think the best piece of luck I had was when I found the permanent studio location. When we began we rented a small commercial space in an old strip mall in Bearden. It was good enough for a humble beginning, but we found our permanent home a year later. Rosie was driving on Central Street and saw an old Victorian house in the Happy Holler for sale. It was miraculously zoned commercial which is required for tattoo studios. With my families help with the down payment, I was able to purchase this space and make it our new studio home.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rosietattoos.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosietattoos/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RosieTattoos/
