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The Manassas dad and Brooklyn, NY native who has called Virginia home for the past 10 years has reached yet another goal: Opening his own tattoo shop.
Kinzel, an award-winning tattoo artist, owns and operates R&B Tattooing and Dominion Body Piercing on N. King Street (in an historic building going back to 1830) in Leesburg.
Kinzel says he couldn't have done it without his 9-year-old daughter, who helped him set up his new business every day after school.
An official ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of the studio was held June 2.
According to Kinzel, what makes R&B Tattooing different is the acceptance of walk-ins.
“These days everything seems to be by appointment,” said Kinzel. “I pride myself on having the ability every day to do walk-ins.”
Walk-ins, of course, can only work when someone has a tattoo in mind that can easily be done—in 30 minutes to an hour. Otherwise, consultations, designs, and hours of tattooing could be in store.
The longest Kinzel ever sat with one customer was eight hours to do a full tribal sleeve. It could take up to 30 hours (broken up into sittings) to compete an entire back tattoo.
And what people may envision as a perfect tattoo doesn’t always translate to reality.
“Sometimes people don’t realize that the design needs to be cleaned up and redrawn as a tattoo,” said Kenzel. “I always tell them, ‘If you can’t draw it with a pencil, then you can’t do a tattoo!’”
With a rise in acceptance of body art these days, Kenzel is seeing customers of all ages.
“I had a couple of 75-year-olds come in who said they always wanted tattoos, but it had been taboo when they were younger,” recalled Kenzel. “I tattooed their names on each other. A week later he came back and said he wanted a whole sleeve. Within a month he had it!”
You’re never too old to get a tattoo, Kinzel advised. But you may be too young. The minimum age in Virginia is 16 (with a parent’s permission), and he is seeing more teens—thanks in part, he says, to the popularity of tattoo reality shows on tv.
Kinzel calls himself a collector and says he’s been tattooed by a lot of people—from traditional Japanese tattoo artists to old timers on Coney Island in Brooklyn. He even has his apprentices tattoo him.
“It’s very humbling,” he said, “they become my equal. And I can always say to customers that they’re in good hands because they tattooed me!”
“I love this location,” Kinzel added. “I love being part of this neighborhood!
“I promised myself that when I hit 20 years [of tattooing] I would open my own shop. This is just the beginning.”
R and B Tattooing, 7a N King St. Leesburg.
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