Kim Saigh is yet another fresh and mesmerizing artist in a field traditionally occupied by men. Her tattoo style is constantly evolving.
Kim Saigh is an American tattoo artist as well as a television personality. She has a long history in business and a rich portfolio. Most importantly – a has a great deal of street credibility in the tattoo scene in LA.
She was born June 25, 1973, in Westlake, Ohio. Kim is best known for her stunning work as a featured tattoo artist on the TLC reality television series LA Ink.
She operates in Memoir Tattoo, where she works along with fellow artist Shawn Barber.
Where it all began
Kim Saigh got her first tattoo at the age of 16 and her love for ink and art grew fast. At 18 she was already an apprentice at a local tattoo studio, run by her friend in Ohio. In early 1995 she relocated to Chicago. She was looking for more opportunities and started working with Guy Aitchison in his tattoo studio.
A few years later Saigh opened her own studio called Cherry Bomb Tattoo. Shortly after she was invited to work as a resident artist in Los Angeles’ High Voltage Tattoos. This is the same studio, followed by the infamous TV reality show, LA Ink.
On the Road: from LA Ink to Memoir Tattoo
LA Ink may be the first major spotlight for Saigh’s work, but she didn’t get there without effort. It is certain that the TV series helped her stay in LA, though.
I began tattooing back in 1992 […] thirteen years later I found myself heading to LA to do a reality show about tattooing, but I’ve always loved Los Angeles and wanted to live here. After the show was over, I knew that I wanted to stay”, says Kim about working and relocating to Los Angeles.
She says she wanted a somewhat private, less street traffic kind of environment to make a new home for her studio. Seems like LA was also a good reason to make Shawn Barber (who is also her boyfriend and partner at Memoir Tattoo) move there from the Bay area.
At first, Kim and Shawn were having a hard time finding a place for their new shop. “We searched long and hard to find what is now Memoir Tattoo and we were blessed to find an architectural gem – one look at the ceiling, and I knew it had to be our shop!”, Kim says about the early days of Memoir.
“We make tattoos!”
That’s the short answer Kim Saigh gives in a recent interview for VoyageLA when asked about Memoir Tattoo. The shop has a selected array of pro artists. They can offer and accommodate great designs among the most requested styles of tattooing today.
Colour, black and gray, realistic, portraits, traditional, illustrative, Japanese, and many many more tattoo styles are available in Memoir’s portfolio.
With so many years in the tattoo scene behind her back, Kim says she has developed a tight set of values that help her do her job and have fun in the process.
She and Shawn are always looking to make customers happy. If someone requests a design or a certain style, their main goal is to find the artist who will perform the best work – within or outside the shop.
To ensure a really broad palette of styles and a highly personalized touch, Memoir also hosts various guest artists throughout the year.
“For us, our shop is a beautiful, art-filled safe haven to work or be tattooed in”, Kim says and adds “Egos are to be left at the door.”
