Ever since I was a teenager, I used to binge-watch TV shows like L.A. Ink and Inkmasters. I've known I wanted a tattoo since as long as I can remember, and I expected my first tattoo experience to be that- an experience. But when I was finally there, it was nothing like I imagined it. I wasn’t asked the meaning behind my tattoo, or how I visualised it. Instead, I felt like I copy pasted someone’s Pinterest board, with a random font picked from the internet, on my skin.
It took a few hits and misses to finally find the perfect tattoo artist. And my outlook completely changed when I met Suhasini Gour, an experienced tattoo artist who sits out of her studio in HKV. When you step into her studio, The Rabbit Hole (which has to be the best name for any studio, ever), you won’t see a cliched tattoo studio with skulls and bones, and heavy metal music. You’ll be taken to an extremely pretty, and cosy place that’ll make you feel welcome in an instant.
The Rabbit Hole is home to two tattoo artists, Suhasini and Varun. They’ve created a place that has a warm and chill vibe, and they make sure you're completely comfortable (we've all met judgemental tattoo artists, they aren't like that a bit).What I absolutely love about them is that they offer to design your tattoo from scratch when you tell them your idea. So, even if you want something cliched or common, you’ll walk out with a unique design that will reflect your taste. The best part is that they’ll always respect how you visualise your tattoo, more than anything else, and try to create something that aligns with that.
While Suhasini specialises in clean and crisp linework, minimalistic geometric tattoos, and mandala artwork, Varun's style leans more towards realism. The charges aren't very steep either. They charge INR 2,000 for the first square inch, and INR 750 for every subsequent square inch (most tattoo studios, especially the popular ones, will charge double).
The Rabbit Hole is also a good place to hit up for safe and hygienic, painless piercings. It is one of the only few places in Delhi that does dermal implants. The prices for piercings start at INR 700 for the basic ones (earlobe, helix, etc.) and INR 1200 for nose and septum piercings. A dermal implant will cost you around INR 2000, but since it's a tougher piercing, we think it's fair.
