About Huy Bản Sắc
I am Huy Bản Sắc, a tattoo artist in Hanoi. I never had a master: everything I know grew from the most basic steps of the craft.
The journey
- 2012
First time holding a machine. Self-taught, experimenting on my own, with no master.
- 2015
Turned professional, in the years when tattooing in Vietnam was just taking off and there were few artists.
- The next 5 years
Built strong studio teams, trained many apprentices and worked in every style.
- 2–3 years away
Ready to leave it all behind to look at myself again, study many styles and think about where the craft should go.
- The last 2 years
Back in the trade, putting everything into researching Vietnamese tattooing and art.
- From now on
Huy Bản Sắc: a declaration that I will create a style of my own, Vietnamese and personal.
A question I could not let go
Vietnam has a deep history of art and a rich store of forms, from ancient times to now. Yet we have let it fade, while Vietnamese artists tattoo every foreign style with great care.
Why does Vietnam still have no brush style, no tattoo genre of its own? That question has followed me through my years in the trade.
Tattooer or artist
I have worked in a great many styles, and they no longer give me real inspiration. Vietnamese tattooers are very skilled; only one thing is missing: an artist needs something of their own.
When we use our skill to remake what others have imagined, we end up helping other countries’ identities travel the world, while no one builds a school of our own. I want to lead the way on that.
A tattoo is a memory
What I remember most from my early years is how people chose their tattoos. Everyone wanted meaning on their skin, even taboos, and they researched those meanings deeply.
Today most people tattoo for looks, and tattoos are becoming accessories. I want tattoos to be memories again, and more than that, to carry Vietnamese identity so the world knows it.
What I want you to carry
I want you to feel proud carrying Vietnamese identity on your body. The tattoo still holds your own story, but it breathes the spirit of our country.
You may already have many beautiful tattoos. I hope one of them is a piece that, when you travel abroad, lets you say: this is Vietnamese style, the school of my country.
Knowing Vietnamese tattooing from the roots
Because I taught myself from the ground up, I know well the stages tattooing in Vietnam has gone through and what Vietnamese people have favoured in each era. I bring that into every design.
Principles
- My word comes first. Care for the craft and trust are things I will never give up.
- I tattoo you as I would tattoo myself: a piece on you must be as good as one on me.
- Any apprentice or artist working with me who does not keep these principles does not keep working with me.
- A client is a friend. When the piece is done, we stay in each other’s circle.
- We talk openly, including about price, to find common ground for your tattoo.
- You bring the problem, I solve it. I listen to you; I do not make you follow me.
Tell me the story you want to keep
Free consultation at the studio. Tell me your budget and I will design to it.