Genres
Japanese

Loves
Respect and being respectful. And of course tattooing nice clean skin with some fresh Japanese art on a cool person in a relaxed shop with some good drum n bass playing. Perfect.

Hates
Jealous ignorant gossiping cheap people. haters, selfishness and fairy tattoos.

Ride
Boeing 747s and a Ducati monster 1000 (coming soon).

Story
I've been tattooing for 14 straight, 8 years now on the road (as of 2007).. I started off humbly enough in a street shop in Toronto Canada doing flash for quite a few years, getting the hang of what its all about, getting my technique down and speed up. Once I realized I could not grow anymore in that situation I drifted across Canada for a while from shop to shop and coast to coast before heading over to europe to broaden my horizons and see what lay ahead for me. In that 1st year I worked all over Spain including much time in Barcelona and Ibiza and I also worked in Italy periodically. I was fortunate enough to meet an artist named Neil in Ibiza who took me under his wing and helped me get my game straight, after seeing my work improve so quickly and with these new found skills I headed north and worked in England, Holland, Denmark and Norway and then eventually ran a shop in Copenhagen, Denmark for 6 months in the infamous redlight district there. Once winter was setting in I headed south for my usual destination below the equator: Australia. I have worked in Melbourne, Sydney and the Gold Coast many times over the years and I still find myself a resident more often than not in Sydney when the weather north is cold. As per my usual routine I always stop in Thailand on the way back up to Europe and make some time to tattoo the locals on the island beaches there while resting for my next tattoo mission. In these last few years I have been taking on longer guest spots and trying to spend more time in one place. In late 2006 I worked six months in Holland at Dragon Tattoo and then 6 months at Innervision Tattoo in Sydney right after that in early 2007. The summer of 2007 was spent on a North American tattoo roadtrip that saw me working in Toronto at Tat-a-rama, New York City at Invisible NYC, Seventh Son Tattoo in San Francisco, Slave to the Needle in Seattle and Dutchman Tattoo in Vancouver, Canada, working with and learning from some of the nicest and best tattoo artists going at the minute. My main objective these last years has been studying, learning, and working with the best artists I could find and keeping my head down as it were. The point of it all is to achieve a level of artistic and technical quality that will stand up to time and scrutiny and bring my clients everlasting satisfaction. And now I continue to do that and make the nicest tattoos I possibly can all over the world. Tattooing is one thing but the art of guest spotting worldwide is another thing, It's a second job altogether! I am greatly indebted to those that have helped me along, and grateful to those that believed in me, and I am just getting started! Thanks! www.kianforreal.com

Best moment
Too many to list. In general though, its when I have worked with someone from concept on design, through outlining it and then the final wash before bandaging and they are happy and grinning and just super stoked with their new tattoo. And that the tattoo is the best I could have done. This does it for me.

Shop (they work at)
Inner Vision Tattoo

Location
Europe-Australia-USA

First got
15 years old

First gave
15 years old

How started
Super Saver Kit #2, big balls, hard work and a lucky break.

Influences
Crazy Ace gave me my start, Mao gave me work in Europe, Neil Ahern put me in the right direction and kicked my ass but hard, Trevor Mcstay showed me some ropes, Greg Orie taught me how to climb them, Cliffe Clayton gave me the place to grow, and the work of the usual famous suspects continues to inspire me but more so the work of slightly lesser known, and up and coming artists really pushes me to excel, artist like Marco Serio, Troy Denning, Regino Gonzales, Aaron Bell, Chris O'Donnel, John the Dutchman, and plenty more. I reckon a personal connection to the people whose work you admire adds an invaluable contribution to what you get from it. I continually strive to show the people who have invested time in me that it was time well spent.

Creed
Stand behind and be proud of everything you do, including every tattoo, which means thinking things through before you do them. Be mindful of things.