MUSBA HASHMI speaks with tattoo artist LOKESH VERMA about the audible body art that is trending and how the idea hit him
While tattoos have been here for a while but what is taking the industry by storm today are the sound wave or audio tattoos. Yes, you read that right. Tattoos that have a voice and can be heard. Hard to believe? Meet Lokesh Verma, founder of Devilz Tattoos who is making it come true.
“This is a new technology in India. The tattoo industry was static for so many years with no inventions but now with these dynamic sound wave tattoos we are taking the industry a step further. What we mean by this, is you can hear a sound from your tattoo, it’s not the simple static tattoo any more,” he says. Verma may be the first and the only one in India to have adapted this technology but it is originally an American idea.
“This was in trend in the US two years back. However, it has only been a year since I brought the concept here. Intially, there were not many takers. But slowly it caught the attention of the people. And in the last few months this technology was acknowledged by people and more and more people are getting it done. Till now, we have inked around 80 people with sound wave tattoos,” Verma tells you who a few minutes back was busy inking another customer but comes out to tell you more about this new trend.
As complicated it may sound, the process is quite easy. The client is asked to record a five to 30 second sound clip of anything that they want to cherish. It may be their baby’s first cry or their dog’s voice or even a message from their loved ones who are no more. Then a sound wave is created out of it using various softwares and put out on paper.
“Once the visual of the sound wave has been created, we take a print out of it and then ink it on our client’s body line by line. Once it is inked, we upload the picture of the sound wave on our website. People can scan it using the sound wave app on their mobiles and hear the audio message in it as many times as they want. It is just like the way QR codes work, you scan something and it redirects you to another site,” he tells you.
A year, when Verma came to kow about this technology, it attracted him and he made his mind to know more about the art.
“I am always looking to bring something new in the field. When I got to know about this, I knew that this is something that I have to bring to my country. I started doing my research and read a lot about it. I knew that such a technology would require a lot of specialisation. Before executing the idea, I did many trials to see how it would work. I used skin pads to test it and only when we were successful I decided to do it on people,” Verma says who inks these tattoos with his team of experts. It didn’t take too long for Verma or for that matter his team to excel in the skill, all thanks to his 17 years of experience in the industry.
Like any other person who is stepping into unchartered waters, Verma too was apprehensive about the idea.
“Intially, I was a bit apprehensive about introducing the concept because the lines of the sound wave are intricate. There is no room for even the slightest of error in such tattoos. If a single line is not correctly made because the artist is inexperienced, the sound wave will become crooked and the tattoo will not work. This needs specialisation in line work and the artist should have super steady hands to draw the lines. It is not like the usual tattoos where if something goes wrong, you can just shade and fix it. Each and every line of the sound wave has to be precise,” he says. The cost of the tattoo starts at Rs 15,000 for a clip of five seconds.
There is a reason why people are opting for these tattoos. “One is able to keep the loved ones near you and heard their voice even if they are hundreds of miles away. My wife got our baby’s voice inked when he was two years old. She was never interested in tattoos but this was something she couldn’t resist,” he tells you.
Mostly married couples and people with young children, who are 35 to 45 years of age go for this because they can keep that commitment.
Though the tattoo industry has come a long way but the mindset of people still has to change. “There is a need for change in the mindset when it comes to getting a tattoo. Many are apprehensive before getting one and seek for help from family and friends. When someone gather enough courage to walk into the tattoo studio they are so confused that they ask their friends for help. People have to start taking their own decisions. Having said that, one change that I have seen is that earlier people used to go for random designs because tattoo was something new and they just wanted to get one. Now people have started putting thoughts behind their tattoos. They tend to express their faith or attitude towards life through them,” Verma tells you. His first tattoo was that of a devil’s face he inked on his father.
There’s a story here. “I came into this profession because I was fond of tattoos but back then there were not many studios and the ones that were there were expensive. I thought why not buy a machine myself as it will cost less and I can make as many tattoos as I want. I bought the machine but was too scared to try it on myself so I walked up to my father and asked if he would be interested in getting inked. I was surprised when he agreed. I made a random design, which he still has on his hand — a devil’s face. It went pretty well and that gave me confidence to make more designs and taking this up as a career. This is how I started Devilz Tattoo,” he tells you.
Verma, of course, is a celebrity of sorts. People seek him out for his quality work. “Back in 2008, Remo D’ Souza was the first celebrity to visit my studio. He was in Delhi-NCR for a shoot and that’s when he came to my studio to get inked,” he tells you.
