A couple of years ago I stood in the top bar area at the London tattoo convention where you can overlook the whole top floor and as usual it was so busy you could barely move. It hit me that the whole thing, the whole tattoo industry, was just done to a little biological quirk that if you put a particle into the right layer of skin it will stay there forever! How amazing is that? If you make that particle coloured and then put it in with the right equipment, skill and dexterity the results are sometimes beyond belief. Tattooing has come so far now that it is hard to imagine where it can go. Can portraits get any more lifelike or can the lines be any sharper or colours bolder in traditional work? It's hard to imagine that it can but I can't wait to be surprised.  I thought tattoos were amazing 10 years ago but if you look through a 10 year old tattoo magazine now, what was good then is, with a few exceptions, pretty average now.

Tattooing is more popular than ever now for so many reasons. It wasn't too long ago that getting a really good tattoo was often down to the luck of living near someone who was a true pioneer and they were very few and far between. With no internet, very  few conventions and little to no magazine coverage it was hard to be educated enough to know what was good and who was capable of doing it. Now the information is there for anyone who cares to look and everyone should have a good tattooist within easy travelling distance. Is it a coincidence that as tattooing has got more popular the standards have risen or is it the other way around? The classic chicken and egg conundrum!

Now I know that there are plenty of rubbish tattooists and studios around and sometimes the public aren't educated (which is being polite) and just want a bargain but there has to be a balance between supply and demand. Restaurants range from greasy spoons to á la carte because there is a market for everything and it's the same for tattooists. Do you think Gordon Ramsay gets upset or gives it a moments thought when a café opens around the corner from Claridges? Of course not! Just concentrate on doing your own thing as well as possible and let other people do theirs and the rest just falls into place.

The great irony is that now we have arrived to this point where the artwork is good, the health standards are high and the public are starting to accept tattooing as an art form and not just something for criminals or ladies of a certain reputation, some people can only see negatives. That it was better in the old days or that some bubble is going to burst, that it is oversaturated or even that it is a bad thing that every other 18 year old seems to want to be a tattooist. Why shouldn't they want to tattoo? I honestly think it's the best job in the world so why can I blame someone else for thinking that it could be, even if they aren't that knowledgeable about it right now? Everybody has to start somewhere don't they? Yes it can be incredibly hard work but good tattooists work hard because it is something to be passionate about. I can think of loads of jobs that are incredibly hard work that it would be pretty difficult, if not impossible to be passionate about. And why does a bubble have to burst? I think the rise in popularity of tattooing is a social phenomenon beyond just fashion. Fashions come and go but some things are perennial. Rock and Roll came along in the 50s and established the 1^st youth culture; teenagers who didn't want to be mini versions of their parents, who wanted to look different, dress different and have their own music, who said  "We don't need your culture, we've got our own". People thought that it wouldn't last and it didn't. Rock and roll died when Elvis joined the army but the idea of music as a thing to be passionate about, to separate you from your parents or peers has never gone away, it never went out of fashion and the bubble never burst, it just evolved and diversified. Tattooing is already going down that road, diversifying and each style is getting its own fans and top artists. Like heavy metal splitting into different styles like black metal, thrash or cock rock, Japanese tattooing for example is splitting into the Neo (think Filip Leu or Shige) as opposed to the more Traditional (Horiyoshi III or Henning Jorgensen) and traditional work into Old School and New School (or "skool" because if it's modern it has to be spelt wrong!). I reckon when all the heavily tattooed 20 year olds are 40 with kids of their own the rebellion won't be to not get tattooed at all, but just tattooed in a new style that your parents can still hate.

When I hear people in the industry complain about lack of standards with artwork or conventions being crap and magazines rubbish I just think are you part of the problem or part of the solution? If all the magazines are full of rubbish then send your amazing work to them instead of waiting for them to come to you. If you think conventions are rubbish then do one yourself and do it right. Isn't that the Punk DIY ethic? Get of your backside and do it yourself. Make a difference and be proactive rather than complaining that it's all rubbish like it's something outside of your control. American anthropologist Margaret Mead said "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." And if a small group can change the world surely tattooing shouldn't be too tricky?