Today we’d like to introduce you to Gaon Kim.
Hi Gaon, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am a tattoo artist who started in Korea. It’s been eight years since I started getting tattoos. I fell in love with tattoos at that time when I saw the thin and delicate line of tattoos. I usually do plant work and ornamental work. It is really interesting to engrave plants that do not wither on customers’ bodies. And I became a tattooist and a mother of two children. I work as a working mother raising six-year-old and seven-month-old boys. I hardly took a break from work when I had a child and even when I had a child. This job is the driving force of my life. It’s really fun and it’s perfect for me who likes new things. Every day, I draw new designs, engrave new tattoos on customers, and meet new customers every day. I work between Korea and the United States. The reason is that in America, I can meet more diverse customers than in Korea and I love to experience new environments. I can usually visit LA, San Francisco, or Seattle to meet new guests and present them with my delicate work.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I’m challenging every day. Every day I try to make better work than yesterday and every day I try to draw a new and more advanced picture than yesterday. I think life is really exciting and beautiful to try every day. I don’t want to think of children as obstacles, but as all working mothers do, there have been many conflicts between time with children and working time. Especially because I am a freelancer, I was able to control my time. I took care of my first son alone, so when my son was young, I felt sad whenever I left him to my mother and worked. When I was too busy working for a while and I was desperate for time with my child, I cut back on my work for a while. And I couldn’t go to work in America or other countries because I had to take care of the child alone. I love it because I have a husband now and he can take care of all the children. I was able to go to work in America because of my husband’s support. Anyway, I think time with children is important because I am a mother. You should adjust your working hours and spending time with your family to be balanced.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
We are not people who belong to any company, but individual artists, so we can set the working hours. We need not only time to meet with customers and get tattoos but also time to work on SNS activities so that our accounts are well exposed or to draw pictures. And we should try to develop steadily. It’s hard to make such an effort on your own. It takes a lot of passion and desperation. Just as all artists are lonely, tattooists are lonely. This is because you have to walk on a lonely path for a long time alone for your development. So I think the most important thing is consistency and strong will.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tattooist_gaon
