Last week on Twitter I asked our tweeps if they had a Vancouver-themed tattoo, or knew somebody who did, if they might share it with us. As the founder of this site/magazine/social-media-machine I have an obvious fascination with pride-of-place and how it manifests. Getting a tattoo showing your pride for something is perhaps the ultimate commitment, and I'm happy to share some stories from locals sporting ink inspired by their love for this city.
This will hopefully become a regular series if enough people share with us. Please email your photos and stories to [email protected] with the subject "Vancouver Ink".
First up is Irving Lau (@irvlau on Instagram and Twitter) and his V5N, which was actually inspired by something he saw on our website!
Here's what Irving had to say about this Vancouver ink:
It all started from an interview y'all did with Dustin Milligan where he showed a tattoo of his area code from yellowknife. I immediately was drawn to it, I got it - his pride in his roots, my (now late) sister lived in Yellowknife as well. I had been doing some travelling in the years before and had been reppin' eastvan through t-shirts (mainly welcometoeastvan or El Kartel) and always meeting new people who agreed with my pride.
Put everything together and my own V5N tattoo just had to be done. I wasn't stoked to be seen to be "copying" an idea but my love for where I grew up was too strong.
In 2011, my father passed away and he himself grew up in eastvan. I was getting his initials tattooed as a tribute and since I was already work with text and typography, I went ahead and got my V5N tattoo done at the same time. Emilio Hidalgo at The Fall did both of my tattoos that day.
