PRICK!

LA-born artist Henry Hate presides over Prick! – Shoreditch’s longest established tattooists (which celebrated its seventh birthday in June, 2010). Unpretentious, friendly and popular, Henry pitches Prick! as a ‘friendly, neighbourhood studio.’ It’s crammed into a small unit on Shoreditch’s busiest intersection, attracting local hipsters, a few rogue bankers from the City and anyone else who might be passing by (it’s one of London’s few studios that accepts on-the-spot appointments). Upstairs is a traditional lounge, decorated with house designs and Henry’s artwork, but it’s down in the basement where the real action is – four artists buzz away, often with a guest tattooist in their midst such as Ichi Ink from Japan in September 2010.