Consultations are free!

This is your opportunity to sit down with your tattoo artist to talk about your tattoo. Your consultation will take approximately 30 minutes and in this time you will discuss the tattoo subject, style, size and placement. If you have specific images or ideas, make sure you bring them along with you to this meeting. At the end of the consultation, if you are ready to go ahead with a booking, you will be asked to pay a deposit to secure and confirm your tattoo session.

Even though consultations in person are always preferred, most of our artists can arrange a remote consultation via phone or internet. Email your artist directly to discuss further.

This is dependent on a number of factors including tattoo size, style, colour, placement and your discomfort/pain threshold. The more information you can share with your artist during the consultation process, the more accurately they can estimate the cost of your tattoo. Our artists each have hourly and full day rates. The full day rates enable you to relax into your tattoo session (and the more relaxed you are, the less painful the process is!) Your tattoo is an investment for life.

The deposit is paid to protect both your and your tattoo artist’s time. Once you have paid the deposit, your appointment time is secured (no longer available to other clients). Our tattoo artists are sought-after professionals and are often booked out weeks to months in advance. This is not their hobby. Tattooing is how they earn their living. Your tattoo artist produces a unique design for you and turns up whether you do or not. If a client cancels or reschedules their appointment without giving their artist reasonable notice, the tattoo artist loses some of their income. In the event of a late appointment change or no-show the deposit helps to pay for the tattoo artist’s lost work time and time spent designing the tattoo. See our deposit policy below for more details.

No drawing or design work is done until you have a confirmed booking secured with a deposit. To be able to keep up with all of their bookings, our artists draw for you close to the day of your appointment.

No. You will see your design at your tattoo appointment (except in special circumstances). Our tattoo artists take a lot of care and time to ensure that your own unique requirements are met. Until your piece of art is in your skin and paid for, the design belongs solely to your tattoo artist. In order to protect its integrity we do everything we can to ensure that it cannot be replicated somewhere else, on someone else. You select your tattoo artist based on their artistic style and their portfolio (and their personality). After consulting with you, your artist takes time and care to create a design to your own individual requirements. On the day of your appointment, once you have seen your design, you may wish to make slight tweaks and alterations. Tattoo artists are used to making small design changes according to your feedback on the spot. This is part of their skillset.

No. We take every effort not to plagiarise another tattoo artist’s work. If you like an artist’s work, you should try to book in with them for your tattoo. Often this is not possible, so we encourage you to bring a picture of any tattoo/s you like to your consultation to discuss it with your artist. Together with your artist you can discuss what it is that you like or don't like about the tattoo/s so that they can come up with an original design for you with these ideas in mind.

If you are 16 or 17 years old, you must tell us before the day of your tattoo session. Our artists reserve the right to refuse a tattoo if they have not been informed you are under the age of 18 in advance. You will need a parent’s (or legal guardian’s) permission to get a tattoo. On the date of your tattoo appointment, you and your parent or legal guardian must come into the studio in person to fill out and sign a consent application form together. You will also both need to bring photo IDs so we can grab a copy of both and store them with the completed form. This is so we can prove that you are related and that parental (or a legal guardian’s) consent has been obtained. In case where the parent does not share their surname, you will also be asked to show a copy of the birth certificate. In case where the legal guardian is not related to the client, you will also need to bring evidence of legal guardianship. Once all the paperwork is in order, the parent/legal guardian is free to leave if they want to. If you have paid a deposit in advance, but: - you have not informed us you are under 18 - you did not come along with a parent or legal guardian - you and/or your parent or legal guardian do not bring photo ID and adequate proof of legal guardianship when applicable then the tattoo artist will keep your deposit to offset lost revenue.

You are welcome to pay with either Eftpos (New Zealand debit cards only) or cash. We don't accept credit cards and we don't have Paywave.

Yes. Where New Zealand only has guidelines to encourage good practice and cleanliness in tattoo studios, we choose to follow the strict rules on sterilisation and cleanliness set out in the U.K. and Europe. Before each tattoo, we clean our stations with a medical grade disinfectant and cover beds, armrests, work benches, and instruments to create a sterile workspace. We only use sterilised single-use needles that are disposed of in clinical sharps bins after each tattoo. Most of the ink that we use is vegan friendly, made of organic pigments and complies with EU standards. It is poured into single use ink caps before each tattoo. Instruments are cleaned in our digital autoclave. Our stations are cleaned after every tattoo with medical grade disinfectant to ensure there is no risk of cross-contamination between our clients. The rest of the studio is cleaned every morning to keep it nice and fresh.

We do! We issue vouchers from the studio of your chosen value. To buy a voucher: - Pop by the studio - Email us at info@thegallerytattooart.com Vouchers are available for pick up from the studio. We have Eftpos (NZ debit cards only) We can courier the voucher to you or your desired address for an additional fee. Vouchers can be redeemed for any tattoo by any of our resident tattoo artists. Vouchers are issued with a 1 year expiry date from the date of purchase. The expiry date cannot be extended.

Email us at info@thegallerytattooart.com and we will be happy to help!