Dispatch 20: Inked Stories

So often, there is more to the ink than meets the eye.

What began as a Tumblr page, much like this one, is now a published book ready to hit the shelves. In “Pen & Ink: An Illustrated Collection of Unusual, Deeply Human Stories Behind People’s Tattoos” Wendy MacNaughton and Isaac Fitzgerald archive a wide spectrum of peoples’ tattoos and their meanings. The stories really hit home for us design-loving, typography-obsessing, tat fans. As described, tattoos represent “stories that speak of lives you’ll never live and experiences you know precisely.”

Lena Dunham - Actor, Writer, Director

“My friend Jemima does stick n’ poke tattoos. It’s a skill she developed while bored at art school, tattooing every easily persuaded person in Providence. It’s also a way to ensure people never forget about her (which they wouldn’t anyway because she’s British and brilliant and looks like Brigitte Bardot)…One night, lying on her floor - stomach full of cookies, deciding whether or not to go see the first Paranormal Activity movie - she offered to tattoo me. I agreed almost too quickly as if to prove I was no longer the high school prude. She had a little notebook of her designs, like she was her own little shitty shop, and I picked one out. Her dog Rozy’s head with a bow slapped on. It hurt like a motherfucker and took over an hour. It’s perfect to me. People usually think it’s Hello Kitty but I know the truth: it’s the illusion of ultimate chillness: ‘Yeah bitch, tattoo me.’ It’s a happy little cat dog. It’s a reunion”