It’s our Birthday, we’ll make a blog about it if we want to!
One minute you're walking into a studio to start your tattooing apprenticeship, the next minute you're asking your friend to write you a blog for your own tattoo studio’s 6th birthday. Are you ready? On the 5th of July, we’ll be celebrating our 6th anniversary at 7th Circle Tattoo & Piercing! (yes I’m proud of this sentence).Over the years Kevin and Bogdan have seen thousands of customers but I feel as a customer you only ever get to see a snapshot of what's going on in the studio. In 6 years quite a lot has happened, some ups, some downs; having survived a global pandemic not seen for the last 100 years…great timing Kevin! Here's a breakdown of what's happened at 7th Circle and for our talented artists.
2019: This was the year Kevin and Bogdan took over the studio, formerly known as Heathen Ink, to create the shop you all know and love, 7th Circle Tattoo & Piercing. Having quite a tumultuous start to his tattooing career (see my interview with Kevin) at this point they felt they had a good handle on their tattooing path and it had finally come in the form of being dropped in at the deep end, faced with the decision to open their own studio or find work elsewhere.
2020: Hindsight is a beautiful thing, and if Kevin and Bogdan had it back in 2019 when they opened the studio, they may have chosen differently (Kevin said but probably not). Less than a year after opening the studio, the world entered into the word we all remember so well, lockdown. It's the worst thing you can imagine for a tattoo studio to face, being such a customer facing role, this caused huge problems. Having already faced their own flavour of hardship in their professional and personal lives, Kevin and Bogdan took time away from the studio (well Bodgan got trapped in Texas because of travel restrictions). So whilst Bogdan was off being a cowboy Kevin got back to the book and spent lots of time sketching and drawing, something he had missed during his entry into tattooing. As lockdown began to ease, the boys went about giving the shop a new look and also getting Paul Banks in to hand paint the very impressive 7th Circle logo on the window. Getting back to tattooing albeit looking more like a surgeon than a tattoo artist whilst doing it, lockdown did not and would not stop the stride and momentum they had.
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2021: Lockdowns didn't last forever, even if they felt like a lifetime. With this, the studio was able to get back to it and start making some progress after spending the lockdown working on the shop. Kevin spent a large amount of time working on and updating the website, adding the option to purchase t-shirts, aftercare, jewellery and gift cards. This year was quite an impactful time for Kevin as he started attending tattoo conventions as well as sponsoring the local football team, Oldham Athletic and having their own ad board pitch-side.
Kevin decided he would start stocking Warhammer to aid with the slow business coming out of lockdown. This was quite an inconsequential decision at the time but now as I write this for the studio, it's clear it was quite a big decision. The Warhammer wasn't selling very well (Oldham isn't the wealthiest of places and Warhammer isn't the cheapest hobby), I was working at a school and ran a Warhammer after-school club. I was able to start working on getting a ‘cheap’ supply of Warhammer materials whilst also sending the students from my club to empty out his stock, a win-win situation adjacent to tattooing. I made a promise that when I was in a better financial position, I’d be back for a tattoo and the rest is history.
2022: After a very, very interesting first few years open and so many obstacles that no one could have foreseen, 7th Circle had a nice, uneventful year in comparison. The studio got a new update and refresh once again and Kevin entered even more conventions, these being Chester Tattoo Convention and York International Tattoo Convention where he was able to pick up the ’Best of Sunday Runner Up’ award.
2023: 2023 saw more of the same, hard work and striving to improve, as a shop and as artists. Bogdan was building a reputation and consistently booked up with tattoos but mostly piercings where he is ’The Guy’, seriously have a look at the Google reviews people have left about how well he treats all of his piercing customers. Kevin worked at York International Tattoo Convention again and the first Cheshire Tattoo Show, in his own words ‘2022 & 23 were just a blur, time just flew by’. Kevin also made the executive decision to get rid of the Warhammer stock as it just wasn't pulling its weight in value added, I personally loved it, cheap warhammer and tattoos…sign me up! At the end of the year Kevin picked up some paintbrushes for the first time since lockdown and began painting again.
2024: As with any new startup, independent business or dream you have. The first part of the journey is the hardest, but then at one point if you survive, it clicks. Everything clicks into place and 2024 really saw 7th CIrcle find its stride. Having more bookings and being the busiest it had ever been there was a real momentum both with the guys and in the shop. Kevin continued his painting side quest in between tattoos here and there (please do go seek out some of his paintings on his instagram, really impressive stuff). Bogdan was going from strength to strength racking up even more 5* reviews for his piercing practice, becoming quite the busy man. This was as Kevin has named it, ‘the year of the cover up’ his camera roll is full of cover ups and reworked tattoos, but outside of the studio it was a story of progress with Kevin working York International Tattoo Convention for the third year in a row and leaving with an award for 1st place in the Anime & Manga category that year. Then we went off to Tattooed Planet where Kevin tattooed my shin for the entire weekend, a real bonding by the campfire experience for me (that was sarcasm).
2025: Now you’re gonna read this, and it's hard to believe, but it is July 1st today! Seven months into this year already and for the studio, the seven months from the start of the year feels just as quick as the last six years. When you lay it out on paper in a timeline you can see the story of perseverance and overcoming life’s hurdles, something not unique to us here at 7th Circle and common amongst many businesses. But when you come into the studio you only see a snapshot of who they are and how they got there. This is our story and how we became who we are and hopefully there's plenty more to come as Kevin and Bogdan just signed another six year lease for the studio. Kevin is continuing his run of conventions this year, having already completed York, I’ll be getting my other shin tattooed by Kevin at Tattooed Planet in August 2025. A big recent development is that we now have a playable video game for the studio where you can explore frequently asked questions and have a walk around the studio (the game is playable here). Kevin has progressed with his paintings, now having work displayed in three different Art Galleries. The last thing to note I suppose for the studio would be that we are growing and expanding the team, with myself coming on as the team blogger and we would also like to introduce you all to Ken, Kevin’s first apprentice, he has already spent some time in the studio and we’re sure you’ll all get along with him as he starts his journey of learning to tattoo.
Now I was tasked by Kevin and Bogdan with extending a most gracious thank you to all of their family, friends, customers, fans and supporters. If you’ve been in and got a tattoo or a piercing it would mean a lot if you gave them a follow on social media or even just read some of the blogs on the website. 7th Circle Tattoo & Piercing would be nothing without all of you, we thank you for supporting the shop throughout the last six years and hopefully many many more years to come.
