Show and Tell: Tracy’s Tattoo Studio

Photos: Kelda Aikman
Words: Kelly Moana
It’s a blue and purple door, and oddly enough in a town with a small amount of businesses, one I haven’t seen behind. As I make my way up the stairs, past the various mediums of art work, laughter trickles down and welcomes me into the bright space that is the home of Tracy’s tattoo studio Designs From the Back Of the Fridge.

On the bed, a customer beams away, an odd contradiction to the pain I know is probably shooting up his shin. It becomes apparent that the sound of laughter is as prevalent as the familiar and consistent sound of the tattoo machine buzzing away.
For Tracy Brechelt , the tattoo machine has been buzzing for about 11 years. Her forte is in delicate work, and she loves including foliage and birds. She takes inspiration from the environment around her – at one time tattooing the vision of the Pohutukawa outside her window, directly onto the back of one of her customers. And she loves to have a little bend to her work, like one of the birds drawn on her wall – it has springs for a tail.

This trickster element is evident as she reminisces over the last 20 years in Raglan. Trolley derbies, food fights, the way the Whale Bay residents turned all the road signs upside down when the first roundabout got put in. She thinks we need to breathe a little bit more life back into the community. And like any good conversation we start to dream of the future of Raglan. We fantasize about a round about in the centre of town that features a paddling pool. On hot days, it would become a place to rest your feet in and talk all day. She gets us all cheering at the thought of the future Inaugural  New Zealand Mobility Scooter Race, envisioning the crowds lining the top veranda of the Pub taking bets, cheering the contestants as they get air over the bumps…

As the blue and purple door closes behind me, I have a little extra in my step. If a little bit of that vision crept out of that studio, and started making its way into the sidewalk of Raglan, I think we could all be a little excited. Oh and the tattooing… it’s a personal decision. So I am sure if you go and take a seat with Tracy, you will feel very personal and maybe take a piece of fun with you, wherever it is you are going.

“She’s getting a massive tree on her back. Which steams from roots – like korus. And the tree is entwined with three women’s faces. And then it unfurls into four different types of tree – One is a cherry blossom that is coming over her shoulder into a picture of indicators – which is where her family land is. The other is a Pohutukawa. One is a Magnolia that represents her Grandmother, and the other one is a Kowhai. Amongst all this tree, you’ve got natural Clematis climbing all through it. Then we’ve got all the birds… Kereru, Tuis, Fantails, flittering around it. It looks beautiful, and she’s such a little thing, but she has wicked work of art. And I love it.”