Fine Line Tattoo (Istanbul, Turkey)
Hopefully, after reading my past posts you now have a small clue that I love tattoo’s. About three weeks prior to leaving for Istanbul, I researched tattoo shops in and around the ancient city. Eventually, I came across Fine Line Tattoo. With the power of the internet at my fingertips, I perused the artist portfolio’s, and sent one of the tattoo artists, Kivilcim, an email introduction. Within 24 hours, I received a response in English. From there, we kept in constant communication until I finally agreed to pay him $50.00 U.S. dollars to design a custom tattoo. Approximately one week later, I received via email four different drawings from Kivilcim. I was a little surprised by his level of professionalism. The drawings he created reflected a keen understanding of the medium and genre I had in mind, while displaying a depth of creativity that tickled my tattoo funny bone. Overall, I was very happy with the designs and secured an appointment for the third day in country.
Fast forward to the day of my tattoo appointment. A taxi dropped me off near Taksim Square. I proceeded to walk approximately a mile and a half to the Fine Line Tattoo’s brick and mortar location. The walk there gave me another opportunity to observe how each neighborhood takes on its own personality. For example, once I left Taksim square, I entered into a run-down vacant block of apartment complexes. After passing this no man’s land of eclectic buildings and small neighborhood stores with little to no foot traffic, I observed a business district with modern cafes, restaurants, and brick lined sidewalks. Interspersed with the vibrant atmosphere were lush parks, families socializing in all directions, and an energy which made me slow down to ensure I was able to never forget the area I had stumbled into. Shortly thereafter, I arrived at Fine Line Tattoo which was located on the second floor of a building containing various businesses.
I entered the waiting area through the unlocked glass front door and observed there were no other persons inside of the business. The interior of the shop was clean and contained modern décor with a smattering of various artifacts from around the world. I sat down in a chair and waited for approximately 15 minutes before another person arrived.
When the young mid-20s male adult entered the shop, who later identified himself as Kivilcim, he walked right by me without saying a word and sat down behind a desk approximately less than five steps from where I was sitting. Another male walked in shortly thereafter and they started speaking in Turkish like I wasn’t there. To say it was surreal is an understatement. Eventually, Kivilcim acknowledged my presence and asked if I was “Giuseppe”. I had been sitting silently watching this extremely odd scenario play out with no where to go, no other options, and no managers to complain to (just kidding). I jumped at the chance for a normal interaction or at minimum some level of civility. I hoped Kivilcim might apology for ignoring me yet this was not to be. He proceeded to skip the formalities at which point he asked if I was ready to get my tattoo. I obediently followed him to a sanitary comfortable tattoo area and approximately three hours later I had my first-hand tattoo. That’s right I said three hours. I’ll give him credit for executing good clean lines, but (and it’s a big BUT) there was no air conditioning in the tattoo shop.
This caused him to have to take multiple extended breaks because he was sweating profusely, we both needed copious amounts of water, and he wanted to periodically smoke a cigarette. At the end of three hours, he told me the final price was 1400 TL (175.00 USD). He made sure to let me know that the tattoo had taken longer than expected, and he felt this was a good deal. I would have agreed with him in theory, but I knew from extensive prior tattoo history that the tattoo he gave me should have taken no longer than 1.5 hours. Therefore, I gave him a decent tip along with the agreed upon price and left the shop with my new tattoo from ISTANBUL, TURKEY!!!!!