By Patrick Donachie
In a second-floor walk-up along Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Think Before You Ink offers individual, artistic tattoos. Customers walk in from the neighborhood and also travel from as far as California to work with the studio’s artists, including business founder Richard Parker.
“For me, it’s about making choices in your life,” he said, describing the meaning of the name during an interview at the tattoo studio at 176-16 Hillside Ave. “Any lease you sign, that’s ink; that’s permanent.”
Think Before You Ink began as a series of short videos, where Parker, whose Instagram handle is @maderich, interviewed tattooed individuals in different industries, from BMX riding to real estate, about how they negotiated their tattoos within their industries. Now, with the popularization and commercialization of tattoos, Parker suggested they are more commonly accepted in job situations.
Parker was born and raised in Queens, attending Bayside High School where he played football. He continued playing in college at Staten Island’s Wagner College but also opened an impropmptu tattoo parlor which he ran out of his dorm room. He started developing consistent clients at college, as well as at his home in Queens.
He said he did not initially intend to open Think Before You Ink as a tattoo studio, but as the brand grew in popularity, he decided to open a spot on the third floor of an industrial space in Long Island City. With no way to advertise on street level, the space operated entirely on the strength of word-of-mouth before relocating to the Jamaica location.
Parker, who said he tends to work with larger, detailed tattoos, said that the first visit from potential clients is like a “consultation,” with Parker probing the clients on what they’re looking for in a tattoo and why they may be compelled to get one.
“I might ask, ‘what don’t you want?’ I’m just tapping into people’s minds,” he said, and detailed the unique nature of tattoo work as artistry. “That’s the part that can make or break a tattoo artist. If you can’t deal with people, this isn’t the place for you.”
Derek Verly, a tattoo artist working at Think Before You Ink with @dtatstar as an Instagram handle, said he came from a tattoo-artist education that stressed quantity over individuality, and he said he greatly preferred the time he now had to collaborate with clients on their preferred tattoo. He similarly approached the process of understanding what clients wanted in conversation.
“I tell them, ‘Don’t talk to me in tattoos,’” he said.
Parker, who is appearing on an episode of Inkmaster Redemption on Spike TV on November 29 said he hopes to continue to popularize Think Before You Ink. The business silkscreens T-shirts in an attached garage, and he hopes to expand.
“My focus is on continuing to build the brand,” he said. “Because if we move out of state, the brand has to be solid.”
Reach reporter Patrick Donachie by e-mail at pdona
