Victoria Kiwi Grigorieva - a talented tattoo artist from Moscow (Russia). The founder of the KIWI TATTOO creative workshop and the owner of rapid-speed tattooing technique!
Time on execute a tattoo is an average of 1.5 hours, and the done works are always high-quality!
The number of fans of Victoria's art is growing rapidly.
At last in this year's Moscow International Tattoo Week 2016, we were able to watch the process live. And today we are pleased to introduce an interview, in which we tried to ask about the most interesting details of hers tattoo activities.
Hello, Victoria! It’s very interesting to know how people discovered the art of tattoo for themselves. Can you tell us what your way was like?
Hi there! My decision to take up tattooing was absolutely spontaneous, I don’t even remember when it came to me. Just one fine day I made up my mind to be a tattoo artist. And off it went! I studied various styles, techniques, learnt a lot about equipment, needles and everything I could find on the Web at that time. I attended workshops, had some tattoos made for me by outstanding artists to see the process from within and to have an opportunity to ask certain questions like what it takes to be a tattooer. Then I just practised, made mistakes, realized the problems and then practised again.
I see. Do you remember your first tattoo? What did you feel at that moment?
I believe every artist remembers his first tattoo! Speaking about me, it was a wolf howling at the moon. The tattoo was made in some strange style. It was fairly good, but I can’t find the words to describe what I felt at the moment! It is very scary because you face the unknown, and as if it was not enough, the nature of tattoo implies that it remains forever, so it adds the fear for that guy who agreed to be your guinea pig.
In which styles have you managed to work before you found your own way?
As all the novice artists I started to work in all the possible directions. I was ready to do any work – from inscriptions to realistic tattoos. Of course there were some imperfections in my works but that experience improved my tattooing skills dramatically and helped me grow as an artist. On that stage I identified the styles that were to my liking – you won’t know what you can do until you try.
I can’t agree more! We saw you working during a convention and we were greatly amazed by your sprinter technique! The work speed is so impressive! Can you tell us how you have achieved this? Has it developed of itself or is this a distinctive feature of your style?
At the very beginning of my career as an artist I saw my goal in making high quality tattoos quickly. I’ve been constantly working on this aspect. The speed depends on many factors – from the work place arrangement to the clip cord brand. I can say for sure that you can’t make quick and quality tattoos on bad or medium-quality equipment. I’ve chosen VladBlad Irons workshop for me. I started to work with their equipment, I work with it now and I’m not going to change it in the future. People say that Vlad’s clip cords are too high-powered for work but it’s that power that enables me to achieve such speed.
I can see what you mean. On Moscow Tattoo Week 2016 you got the matryoshka (the prize, a nesting doll) for the best tattoo of the second day. Was it your first award? What did you feel when you heard your name?
Yes, it was my first and long-awaited prize. I consider the nomination Best Of Day to be the most open, honest and prestigious one as these works have been made here and now. I can describe the emotions I felt as an endorphin explosion – laughter, tears, happiness… Everything got mixed up! Even three days afterwards I still couldn’t believe that my work got such appreciation of the experienced tattoo artists.
Congratulations you, it was amazing work! Can you please tell us about your project – KIWI TATTOO Creative Workshop? What kind of place is it? What preceded the opening? What are the plans for the future development?
Originally KIWI TATTOO creative workshop was meant to be a studio of one artist. I decided to organize such a place because I was eager to grow individually as an artist, and I got tired of noisy studios with teams, I wanted to have some peace and quiet and control of the situation. KIWI TATTOO creative workshop is an area with separate, secluded and completely stand-alone work rooms where an artist is a part of the group but at the same time he has got his own space for a calm and productive work, where he can just turn on the music he likes, where there is no distraction and no hubbub of other artists, where there is just he and his creative work. Our prospects are quite simple and commonplace. We see our workshop as a place that unites strong, ambitious artists of various, individual styles and directions.
Victoria, thank you very much for the pleasant conversation! We look forward to more your new works, and conquering new heights!
Thanks!
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