
Back in the day Copenhagen was the tattoo capital of Scandinavia. In the wee-early 19th century newly-laid-drunk-out-of-their-minds sailors would let usually just as drunk Danish tattooists add an eagle or an anchor to whatever ink-entourage they had begun assembling through ports in New York, Hamburg, the far east, and so on. Though Nyhavn 17, the world's longest-running tattoo parlor, is still around, today the world of needled ink appears rather blah when put up against its former glory. Watching those terrible Ink shows it seems like 9 out of 10 customers come in asking for a fucking picture of their dead pet? Hail Mary, you miserable, boring doinks--no wonder your “almost human” canary punched its ticket. To sum it up, tattoos are just another item on the everything-list entitled “Stuff That Was Way Cooler in the Old Days.” Recently Jon Nordstrøm sent us his beautiful book, Danish Tattooing, which proves this sad truth. The book covers more than a century, but the ones we’re showing here are from the 60s-- before silly bikers, former pet-owners, and advertising executives ballsed it all up. Enjoy.
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