Mike E’s Unique Tattoos in Subiaco, Western Australia has been operating since 1995. Mike E is originally from West Auckland in New Zealand, and has been visiting Western Australia since the 1980’s, each time staying a little bit longer. Mike enjoyed visiting Kiwi family and friends (and realised that there was a large Kiwi population working and living in West Aus), the different weather and the Aussie people so much that he eventually relocated.
Mike E’s mother is Maori and his late father Pakea (white). He has a big respect for the Maori carvers which has given him a lot of inspiration for his Maori tattoo designs. He has been drawing since his early childhood, when his Mum used to enter his drawings in comps and he used to win quite often.
Mike met his Perth born wife and business partner Jenni in 1995, and since then they have been working out ways to combine both their backgrounds and culture to create a studio where everyone is comfortable whilst getting high quality, awesome tattoos. With Mike’s Kiwi/Maori culture and Jen’s private school/Scarborough Beach upbringing, and their combined love for the Polynesian culture and lowbrow pop graff culture, Unique Tattoos is a modern fresh studio that has a Tiki Island buzz and is filled with a collection of Tiki and New Skool art. The philosophy at Unique is that everyone is welcome at the studio no matter what your background, just as long as you respect others, kick back and relax and enjoy all that Unique has to offer.
This review is featured in issue 56 of Tattoos Down Under, available for back order now.