FLASH №A-07
Adem
Japanese work that respects the body it lives on — full backs, sleeves, and the long game. Ask him about koi and he'll cancel his lunch.
BOOK WITH ADEMThe artists · 5 residents + guest chair
Five hands.
Five crafts.
Nobody here does a bit of everything. Pick the resident whose specialism matches the work you want, and see who has a chair free before you enquire.
Free consultationDeposit from £5024 Fish Street, Northampton
Adem · Japanese Erkan · 6w Renee · Fine line Kris · 8w Alex · Blackwork + Guest · 12–16 Aug
THE COLLECTIVE · 05 RESIDENTS + GUESTS
A tattoo is only ever as good as the hands that hold the machine. Ours were chosen the way a fugu kitchen chooses its knives — slowly, on evidence, and for one specific cut. Five residents, one specialism each: Japanese, realism, fine line, neo-traditional, blackwork. Nobody here does everything; everybody here does one thing at award level.
And three seasons a year, the sixth chair goes to an artist we'd cross an ocean for — flown into Northampton so you don't have to fly out. For that week, Fish Street is the destination, not the detour.
RESIDENTS · 05GUEST CHAIRS · 03 / YEARAWARDS · 14 SINCE MMXIXSTYLES ON THE FLOOR · 13
Residents
05 CHAIRS · BOOKS OPEN, OR HONEST ABOUT THE WAIT
NEXT CHAIR · 6WFLASH №E-13
Erkan
Photorealist portraits with a documentary eye. Six weeks out because he will not rush a face — yours or the one you're carrying in.
BOOK WITH ERKANFLASH №R-04
Renee
Single-needle botanicals at herbarium accuracy, plus micro work you'll have to point out twice. If it grows, she can plant it on you.
BOOK WITH RENEE NEXT CHAIR · 8WFLASH №K-21
Kris
Neo-traditional with paint-tin colour and hand-of-steel linework. Eight weeks out and, collectors keep telling us, worth ten.
BOOK WITH KRISFLASH №X-02
Alex
Geometry with a straight-razor edge — mandalas, ornament, and heavy blackwork measured twice before a single line goes down.
BOOK WITH ALEX+
The Sixth Chair
Reserved for the guest programme — a rotating residency for artists we'd travel for. Currently occupied; see below.
HELSINKI NORTHAMPTON · 12–16 AUG
THE PROGRAMMEGUEST PROGRAMME · 03 RESIDENCIES A YEAR · EARLY ACCESS FOR THE LIST
The world comes
to Northampton.
Three seasons a year we hand the sixth chair to an award-winning artist from somewhere else entirely — and we book the flights so you don't have to. One week in residence, open books, flash and small customs, deposits only. Residencies open to the list first, a week before they go anywhere near the internet — early access means exactly that.
GUEST CHAIR · 12–16 AUGFLASH №G-01
Aino Koskinen
HELSINKI NORTHAMPTON · 12–16 AUG · 20 SLOTS
Dotwork and Nordic ornamental blackwork, stippled at glacial patience. Five days on Fish Street, twenty slots, flash and small customs only. When it's gone, it's gone — and the waitlist heard about it first.
JOIN AINO'S LISTAUTGET EARLY ACCESS
Autumn chair
Name drops in September. The shortlist is three artists long and two time zones wide. The list gets the email a week before Instagram does.
ANNOUNCED · SEPWINGET EARLY ACCESS
Winter chair
Announced in November. Every guest passes one test before we book the flights: would our own residents queue for them? If yes, welcome to Northampton.
ANNOUNCED · NOV FROM THE FLOOR · RECENT WORK · @FATFUGU
Adem
Erkan
Renee
Kris
Alex
Aino
Adem
Renee
NEXT STEP · ONE FORM · REPLY < 3 WORKING DAYS
Found the right hands?
Book direct, or ask us to recommend an artist — first-timers get walked through everything, including the bits other studios don't mention.
BOOK THE CHAIR