Text & pictures: P-mod 10 years already: these three words on the artists’ wristbands escort our entry and remind us how the world of tattoo conventions changed during the last decade. Yann (Buzz Tattoo, Vannes), the co-organizer of the convention with Sam and Stéphanie, remembers the beginnings of the Nantes convention : “The first edition took place at the Trocadière with 85 tattoo artists and about 3,000 visitors”. Since 2014, the convention moved to the Parc des Expositions to welcome 208 artists and 11,000 guests this year.
If only a few events existed at the birth of the convention based in the Loire region, there are more than fifty today in France. Most of them remain small, but Nantes quickly began one of the major ones in the country. From its size, its longevity or the quality of its line-up, its reputation crossed borders and attracts more foreign and great artists every year: the Americans from Triple Crown (Austin, TX) or Matt Lambdin (Detroit, MI), to name a few.
Like the previous years, a Canadian wind blew on the alleys of the Grand Palais. The convention built a strong reputation by having for the first time Pierre Chapelan (Tattoomania, Montreal), one of the main figures of the Quebec tattoo scene: “There has always been a good France-Quebec relationship, and this year was the tenth collaboration!”
If Quebec enjoys an important tattoo-friendly community, the West of France can also boast about its well-informed audience. Many visitors enter La Beaujoire’s with a strong tattoo background and took time to discover the artists before coming. Pierre agrees: “People here are very open-minded, they really like what we offer and many already knew our work before.” The democratization of tattoo also brings gawkers, willing to get a first tattoo. The flash culture, which grew over the past two years, is still on a roll, telling from the number of flash tattoos offered on the different booths.
The shops that are part of the Nantes landscape are also here: Mikado, Apsara, Neo Tattoo, or La Casa de Leoes, but newcomers are not outdone, like Anaïs and Bérénice (Corpus Memori) or the Bastartz team: this fresh blood’s work looks very promising.
The number of shops skyrocketed in many cities in France over the last years and Nantes is one among many. With six new openings since the last edition, the town of 280,000 inhabitants passed the threshold of 40 shops.
The weekend is interspersed by different events: BMX show, aerotattoo or magic, fakirism and other performances by the Bouffard family.
The only downside was the burlesque and pole dance shows, already there the previous years, which deserved some revamping and a better promotion. But one of the highlights of the convention was the traditional customized skateboard auction sale and original artwork made by the artists.
This year, 7,800 euros will be donated to three charities: SOS Prema, Tous derrière Léa and Surfrider. The auction ended with the sale of machines designed by Bruno Kéa and Karl Marc. The first machine ended up in Greg’s hands, who brought 79 boards bought along the past ten years at the same auction sales.
The second acquirer, Ben Underskin (Coutances), did not make the trip for nothing: besides the very sought-after machine, he left with the first prizes of Best of realism and Best of graphic.
For this edition, the reception of the artists was largely improved, especially with the transformation of the first floor into a VIP lounge dedicated to tattoo artists, and including many little attentions, such as private shows, catering and free champagne.
In a context where the demand remains exponential and where the number of conventions shot up, the organizers knew how to perpetuate the Nantes convention and retain artists over the years.
The Best of day prizes were designed by Maeva Jaunet (Junk Dolls Corp), the other prizes were made by Sculptural Tattoo.
www.convention-tattoo.com www.tousderrierelea.org www.sosprema.com www.surfrider.eu
