Using skin as canvas, two North West artists have seen demand for their work rocket in the past decade. Martin Guttridge-Hewittdives into a world of ink and needles to learn what makes them stand out.

Alex Wright and Kyle Williams are lucky men. While many wake each morning to the sound of their own screams, triggered by the thought of going to work, these North West creatives have turned lifelong passions into multi-award-winning careers, putting Macclesfield on the international map for one of the 21^st Century’s most dominant art forms.

In 2016 they opened Grindhouse, a tattoo studio specialising in hyper realistic horror and pop culture, and quickly gained recognition for the quality of their work. Skip forward to today, and they’re joined by two more talented types, Shannon Wild and Mark Yarwood, and this four person team now draw customers in from across the UK and Europe, and as far afield as the US, Canada, and Japan.

“If you go back to the mid-2000s, before that you just walked into tattoo studios and they’d have drawings on the wall, dolphins jumping over a moon or something basic like that. A Tasmanian Devil maybe. Around that time, the industry started changing and tattooing has developed so much since,” Wright tells us, speaking from the studio over the phone. “Whatever people can paint on canvas, they can now paint on skin… I think the industry really started evolving after shows like Miami Ink came out. The style of artwork began shifting in America, and then over here.

“Portraits began to become popular around the late-2000s, I started working on them maybe 2009. And it just snowballed from there, my client base got bigger,” he continues. “The industry advanced in its way of ink, machines, needle types, which gives artists a broader spectrum to work with. More oil painters and other artists began to get involved in tattooing, so it wasn’t just old school bikers and stuff like that. Spray painters, illustrators, this also started to influence the industry and shape it into what you see today.”

Wright name-checks three specific artists when asked for pioneers of this ‘next-generation’ of tattoos — Mike De Vries, Nikko Hurtado, and Joshua Carlton. Regarded as true boundary pushers, we’re told these visionaries changed perceptions of what was possible with body ink. Meanwhile, the rise of social media, and in particular the visual-focused Instagram, helped put work in front of more people, with the very best turning viral sensations along with the artists responsible.

“Me and Alex started on Instagram maybe a decade ago, when it was nothing really, and built a massive following. So we’re quite lucky that we have been part of that for such a long time,” Williams tells us, making it clear that Grindhouse also has an account, and a Facebook Page. “Now, as soon as we post something online the algorithms pick us up straight away, because we’ve been at it so long. You might find other studios haven’t such a following and aren’t as established, and I don’t know how it will be for them, probably more difficult now the market is really saturated.

“When we opened the studio it quickly began bringing in the horror clientele, so most people coming into the studio are involved in the industry or scene. Either they’re collectors or massive fans of horror, we get a lot of people coming from Comicons, because we already have the name. And horror is growing, in the cinema, on social media, and that’s obviously really working out for us,” he continues. “We’re doing good work and have worked hard to get to where we are… It’s all about experience, isn’t it?”

But for many customers, it’s not just the experienced team but the Grindhouse experience itself that shines through. Wright proudly tells us the studio doubles up as a museum, with an array of artefacts, memorabilia and collectibles on display from the world of slasher, stalker and supernatural movies. Not only does this help set the scene, to an extent it also emphasises the authenticity of the business. An operation run by two best friends who found each other through a shared love of scary movies, equally bewitched by big and small screen chillers from very early ages.

“Most people that come to us, they’re into that culture. Horror movies, metal music, whatever else ties into those. I mean, we can do anything — if you want some flowers, or a football club badge, that’s fine too,” says Wright. ‘It’s hard to pick out a favourite piece or one I’m more proud of than others. Each is something different and I’m just happy to be doing what I’m doing, I’m in a position where people come to me with their ideas and let me produce good art on them. Because I’m into horror and pop culture, I can infuse a bit of myself into what I do, and as clients have similar interests it’s great to work together.”

“I’ve tattooed quite a lot of celebrities in my time, and I’m very proud of that. The fact that they want to come to me, trust me and like my work. It’s one of those things where every time I tattoo a celebrity they leave afterwards and I’m like: ‘wow, that was pretty cool’,” says Williams when we ask him for any specific highlights from the near-two-decades he’s been inking. “So there’s been some really great experiences like that, which, you know, when I think back at tattoos, I think about those memories, when I was in that spot.”

This storied past now sets the tone for what should be an equally impressive future. Looking ahead, both Wright and Williams tell us their main priority is simply continuing to deliver standout body art, day-in-day-out. But beyond that, regular artist residencies at Grindhouse will continue drafting some of the finest tattooists from across the globe to the Cheshire address. And, having already travelled the world, the bosses are preparing for another busy year of international conventions and invites to work with other leading studios in 2025. In doing so, they not only spread the word about their operation, but Macclesfield and North West England as a whole.