Toronto tattoo vet calls out poorly-trained newbies wreaking 'havoc' on industry

This longtime tattoo browse on female monarch westward is closure

A pillar in Toronto's tattoo scene is saying goodbye to his iconic shop with a few parting words on the standards in his industry.

Joey Nixon, a founding partner at Adrenaline, says he's shutting down the Toronto location of his tattoo and piercing shop after nearly 20 years on Queen Street W., citing financial difficulties. Adrenaline's Montreal and Vancouver locations will remain open. 

Those difficulties, Nixon says, emerged at least in part from a wave of new tattoo artists setting up shop after the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists he says lack training and, in some cases, are not getting city licences. 

"A lot of people through boredom, picked up machines, picked up needles and all of a sudden decided to designate themselves tattoo artists or piercers at the peril of the rest of the industry," he said. 

The arrival of these self-designated artists isn't the only reason Adrenaline is closing, Nixon continued, citing the impact of pandemic lockdowns and disruptions in foot traffic on Queen Street due to Ontario Line construction as well. 

But he says if he could make one wish to improve his industry, he'd focus on those new artists.

"I would like to see the back-door, unregulated, unlicensed tattooers and practitioners shut down — or educated and licensed properly," he said. "This is about public health."

There is no formal certification for tattoo artists in Ontario, but Nixon says that new artists traditionally seek out apprenticeships, which can last as long as two years.

Now, he says, tattoo and piercing schools offering short courses are churning out graduates who aren't ready to work. 

"People think that they can go through a two week course at a tattoo school, and all of a sudden decide that they're able to put marks on skin," he said. 

Getting inked in Montreal? Tattoo artists say too many options are hurting business

Nixon also raised worries that some of the new arrivals are side-stepping the city's licensing requirements and going "under the radar, creating havoc for the rest of the legitimate shops in Toronto." 

Tattoo shops in Toronto are expected to undergo annual inspections by Toronto Public Health (TPH) and to get what's called a personal services setting licence, the application for which includes a requirement to submit a criminal record check and proof of insurance but no requirements pertaining specifically to proficiency or tattoo experience. 

TPH isn't able to inspect the businesses they don't know about, "especially home-based operators that do not apply for licensing," said Dr. Rita Shahin, the city's associate medical officer of health, in a statement.

Shahin says that TPH runs a search engine for tattoo parlours called "BodySafe" where people can look up recent inspection reports, adding that any tattoo parlour not in the database should be flagged. 

Despite his criticism of how tattooing is regulated, Nixon says he's "going out on a positive note" at Adrenaline, remembering celebrity clients of which there were "too many to mention," as well as the thousands of Torontonians still walking around with his shop's art on their skin. 

"Chances are that [even] if you haven't been tattooed at Adrenaline Toronto and live in the GTA, that someone who's very close to you has [been]. So that's where we stand as far as our prominence here in the city," he said.  

Nixon says he's encouraging anyone with unfinished pieces to come in over the next two weeks, before the shop closes on Sept. 15. 

Marritt, who has been tattooing since 1997, says it's the daily routine he'll miss the most when Adrenaline finally closes. 

"I really don't care what the tattoos are. I just love tattooing. So it's going to suck," he said. 

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