We’re looking forward to introducing you to Alessio Ricci. Check out our conversation below.
Alessio, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
What I’m chasing is to get better on my job.
I think the day that I stop, it would be the day that I will quit tattooing…
Motivation is the key for me to keep going, working here in San Diego surrounded by many great artists definitely is pushing me every day to do my best.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Alessio Ricci
I was born and raised in Florence, Italy.
I started tattooing in my city in 1998
I moved to the states in 2001 to New York cause I got an offer to work in a tattoo studio in Brooklyn.
I was supposed to be there only 3 months but I’m still here since then.
After all this years I had many good experiences working in different great shop especially here in San Diego as Avalon tattoo, Seven Seas, Remington tattoo and now I’m located at Electric Tiger tattoo where I have been working for the last 5 years.
Mostly I work on large pieces inspired by Japanese style, but I still enjoy do other types of tattoos from America traditional to black and gray…
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
Definitely the one who thought me the most about work has been my father.
My father was a tailor, he started working at the age of 12
I always admired him in the way how dedicate a passionate was about is job.
I grow up seeing him making beautiful suits by hand, he was one of the master for his job a perfectionist.
In a romanticize way, I would say even if our professions looks different, in reality are very similar, both of them needs needles in order to work and both of them are making suits that people would wear, in my case permanently.
I really have to thank him for that!
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
I thought a couple of time to gave up.
That was in the beginning, it was hard, back then we didn’t have internet so the only way to learn was going to tattoo conventions to try to still what others were doing or simply getting tattooed.
It was a very slow process but I think it paid off in the end.
Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
The truth how this industry as changed by the years.
I think we lost most of the ethics regards this profession, before to became a tattoo artist wasn’t easy as now days.
I remember how hard was to find a tattoo machine in order to start, today you can order a machine from Amazon and the next day is on your door ready to go.
We lost all the romance behind this job and all what it takes to start this profession.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Well if I would know that I have 10years left definitely I would start traveling all over the place with not a meta, I feel like I haven’t see nearly enough in my life, so maybe I should do that anyway no matter what.!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alessioricci.com
- Instagram: @alessioricci
- Facebook: Alessio Ricci
Image Credits
Ciao
