


Before I met Ting I thought of, as her name suggests, a traditionally pretty Chinese girl. After one look at her photos on her website however, showed me she is totally different. I couldn't find a bit of traditional Chinese beauty in her. With a green mohawk, three piercings on her chin and lips, all kinds of beautiful tattoos on her neck and arms, she looks like she's fighting the norm with every weapon she has! She certainly didn't look like she was going to give me the usual old interview, it whet my appetite for things to come. Apart from her rebellious looks, most importantly this 25 year old girl from the north of China is already a famous tattoo artist.
Zhuo Danting (Ting) is originally from Harbin. One year ago, Ting and her boyfriend moved to Shanghai and opened a tattoo store called Shanghai Tattoo, her tattoo store is located right behind the famous Xin Tian Di area of Shanghai. Her boyfriend, Dylan Byrne, comes from Ireland. They met in Harbin and quickly fell in love with each other. By the time we got to the store, Ting was not there, Dylan was chatting with some friends in the front yard. He warmly greeted us in fluent Chinese, and told us to wait a bit for Ting. From the very beginning, this interview had a very relaxing atmosphere.
Ting's store is not that big, but with a really cool Logo, it is still very easy to find on the busy Zi Zhong Rd. Just like Ting, you can't help stealing a few looks again and again. The decoration in her store is quite arty; her own tattoo works are hanging all over the walls. It's easy to see all the equipments and tools in her studio are all quite professional, everything there seems in order.
After I met Ting, her appearance is exactly the same as she looks in those photos, the impression she gave me was totally different from what I had imagined before. She was wearing a man's T-shirt, (she laughed and said she stole it from her boyfriend) while we were talking; she also showed me her one off Spiderman sneakers, and she seemed really excited. I thought a girl who looks so extremely different must be really hard to get close to, actually she is the total opposite, her northeastern open personality makes people feel relaxed and I warmed to her instantly.
Although she and her tattoo store have only been in Shanghai for less than a year, they have already won a good reputation. Many people have come for tattoos because they heard of her fame, including artists, white-collar workers, university students, and foreigners from all over the world. In her words, her store is just like the "United Nations". She is delighted that her store has become so international. In the three years she was in Harbin, her tattoo store had a pretty good business, but the customers were not as various as in Shanghai. The customers in Shanghai are more open-minded, which really comforts her. Because that means tattoos have been accepted by more and more people. It has become a new fashion for young people to show their personality and uniqueness.
Of course, many people come here because of her excellent skills. Ting has been studying painting since she was a little kid, which gives her a solid base for her tattoo skills. Meanwhile, the talent she was born with also gives her a lot inspiration for creating tattoos. She tattoos with the principle: cherish every inch of customers' skin as if it was your own. She designs most of the tattoos in her store. She can designs tattoos according to the customers' appearance and personality, each one has to be as unique as the client. When she works, she concentrates 100%; sometimes she can't hear what other people are saying to her. Every single tattoo gives her a very strong sense of satisfaction and fulfillment.
Ting likes Shanghai, because there are so many fun places to go to. When she is free, she likes to go to bars in Xin Tian Di with her boyfriend. She also likes nice food, like Japanese food and Hunan dishes. She loves many bands as well, such as: Sex pistols, the clash, Carcass, Pantera, Slipknot. But what does she love most about Shanghai? That's easy, loads of people want to get tattoos.