I was a founding partner of Jet Black Tribal Ink, a boutique design syndicate in Design Quarter, Fourways.
Our business model was based on tattoo art. Each division of our agency was represented by a different style of tattoos: advertising was represented by old-school Sailor Jerry tattoos, branding by Japanesestyle irezumi, design by script work and strategy by tribal.
The copy was integral to bringing the amazing artwork – done by the immensely talented Jacque Matthee and Ivan Kirstein – to life and this piece became an integral and physical manifestation of our ethos.
Just The Words
Design
The script style of tattoos is a love of intricacy and detail. It can be as beautiful and flowing as calligraphy or as stylised and structured as slab serif. Our design is the same. It is beauty that flows and shifts and transforms into something that has visual meaning, that is more than the sum of it’s design parts, that speaks and lives and tells your story to the world.
Branding
The Japanese horishi or tattoo masters treated skin as a living canvas. Irezumi was an art form, and every tattoo was the map for a spiritual journey or a permanent reminder of an event that was so precious it needed to be captured forever. Which is why we turn to the Japanese style of tattoos to portray our branding and brand development talents. When we develop your brand we treat it in just the same way. From logos to CI, from letterheads to business cards, every step has a meaning and every meaning is taken from your vision of what your business is and can be.
Brand Strategy
What better tattoo style than tribal could possibly represent our strategy offering? From the stylised wave and palm frond designs in Hawaiian and Maori tattoos to the intricate knotwork that is a hallmark of the Celtic style, every piece of tribal ink has a history and a meaning. Getting a tribal design done perfectly
requires intensive research into the origins and symbolism behind the design and finding an artist that is accomplished in the form. When Jet Black Tribal Ink formulate a strategy we go into even greater research and detail. Because your strategy will be a permanent reminder of why our partnership works.
Advertising
Advertising is the old-school style of the tattoo world. Pretty, eyecatching, colourful, vibrant and engaging, old-school tattoos as made famous by Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins and, more recently, Ed Hardy, is the art of getting a message across in a short, succinct but memorable way. With almost half a century’s worth of experience we know exactly how to sell your message.
