Local Heroes: Henk “Hanky Panky” Schiffmacher

Henk “Hanky Panky” Schiffmacher

They call Henk Schiffmacher guru, godfather, or king of Amsterdam’s tattoo culture. One thing’s for sure: the tattoo artist known as Hanky Panky is a thoroughbred storyteller.

Words by MIO VAN DER MEI Pictures by KEVIN RIJNDERS

Tattoo artist Henk Schiffmaker’s fame extends past the borders of Amsterdam. The 64 year-old artist has tattooed A-list celebrities like Kurt Cobain, Lady Gaga and Robbie Williams, just to name a few. But he’s also a renowned painter, author and art collector. The common thread that runs through all of his artistic interests is storytelling. I visited Henk’s shop in de Pijp to talk about the past and present of Amsterdam’s tattoo scene, and more. I sat down next to Henk during one of his tattoo sessions for a chat as photographer Kevin Rijnders captured this tattoo icon on camera.

You’re from a Catholic family from Harderwijk. What made you come to Amsterdam? The storytelling, the narrative of Amsterdammers. I enjoyed going to brown bars (traditional Dutch pubs) where I ran into the most interesting personalities you can imagine. They had the greatest stories to tell. These cafes had a big social function to me.

Do these brown bars still play a big part of your life? These type of brown bars are slowly disappearing, because of the no-smoking law and because everyone’s chasing this “boom boom boom” youth culture. As far as I’m concerned, the social function which bars and cafés have these days is spreading STDs. They’re filled with windbags who just squall stories that are bullshit. I don’t mean to sound like a sourpuss, but Amsterdam isn’t really Amsterdam anymore. “The Amsterdammer” is on the brink of extinction. Yuppies living in the Jordaan are always complaining and often out of humor.

Speaking about youth culture, there seems to have been quite a shift in tattoo culture over the past years. It’s not just for Hell’s Angels, sailors and prostitutes anymore. There used to be a big stigma about the tattoo scene here, and we worked hard to fight against it. Now, the stigma has been torn down for the most part—which is a good thing—yet on the flip side, it has also become less thrilling. What I mean to say is that there are a lot of people who get tattooed these days, but shouldn’t be because they couldn’t handle it. Programs like Miami Ink have turned us into semipsychiatrists. People have started making up reasons to get a tattoo. Like, I’m in a new phase of my life. Or, this one’s for my miscarriage. I’m not saying that it’s nonsense, because it’s very human. But it’s almost as if people feel obligated to get a tattoo with an emotionally attached story to it and then explain all the details to you. You’re not yourself when you’re emotional, and sometimes I have to turn people away and let them first think things through. Tattoo artists weren’t used to getting everyone’s misery poured over us, and frankly, sometimes it’s a bit too much.

“Programs like Miami Ink have turned us into semipsychiatrists.”

You’re a walking encyclopedia when it comes to tattoo history. What is the role of tattoos in Amsterdam’s history? Well, of course tattoos have a communicative function; you want to tell a story. If it doesn’t communicate something, it’s not right. It was kind of like entering a Catholic church. The story and symbolism of Jesus Christ was interwoven into the architecture; church buildings were kind of like comic books. It’s the same way with tattooed bodies. You have to remember that many people were illiterate back in the days. But tattoos have never played as big of a role here as it has done for other cultures—Samoans for example. In those cultures, you could trace back who you are, who your parents were and where they came from. It’s kind of like the Old Testament. Here, you would often get your first tattoo for your mom, so she wouldn’t beat the shit of you for getting one.

You’re a huge collector of anything related to tattoos. You even owned the largest tattoo museum in the world, which unfortunately had to close down. Are you planning to do something else with your collection? Parts of my collection are traveling around to various museums across the world, from Japan to Germany. But eventually, I do want to do something with my collection. We’re continually looking for collaborations with other collectors and thinking about opening one big tattoo museum together.

You’re also working on a donor law that allows people to leave behind a piece of tattooed skin to their loved ones. In the first place, I wanted to get that fixed for myself because my tattoos are part of my collection. Then I thought, well, maybe there are more people who want to leave behind a part of their tattooed skin to their

“Here, you would often get your first tattoo for your mom, so she wouldn’t beat the shit of you for getting one.”

loved ones. The donor law is in progress as we speak and I’m positive we can pull it off. I have about 115 tattoos but the tattoo on my hand, for example, is Samoan and it’s a tattoo against rheumatism. This one’s very special to me. It would be cool if my hand could stick out of the ground when I get buried [laughing]. Or if I could keep it preserved for my children.

You don’t look like you’re going to retire any time soon. What other plans can we expect from you in the future?

I released a book last year entitled Getekend Henk

Schiffmacher (Signed, Henk Schiffmaker). It’s about

the stories behind my own tattoos—fun stories as well as sad ones—and who made them. It’s kind of like my personal tattoo poetry album for the public. I also want to visit our army troops in Afghanistan and Mali, and tattoo them. If the Defense Ministry can bring (Dutch folk singer) Jantje Smit to come sing for them, they can also bring us to tatt them up. Just like it used to be in the old days. I have so many ideas running through my mind. Who knows what else will happen? ¢ tattooing.nl

Sharing inspiring life stories with strangers on the metro

Did you ever step onto a metro train simply to have a meaningful conversation? A new initiative in Amsterdam shows us how it’s done. You may have had interesting, engaging, inspiring conversations whilst in transit, purely by chance. Amsterdam-based project Ondergronds (underground) challenges city dwellers to converse with strangers—anywhere and anytime.

Words by GLYNIS KROMOPAWIRO Pictures by COCO OLAKUNLE PLOOIJER