A sought-out
destination I Brenda Goodman Talent North
t’s so nice to see another successful, locally-owned business. It all began in May 2013, when Adam Kehoe decided to open his own tattoo business — Black Apple Studios. Adam was working as an industrial painter and noticed, after 12 years, it was starting to affect his breathing and he began to have health issues, resulting from the environment he was working in. Adam went on stress leave. It was during this time he decided he had to do something else to make a living. “I got into tattooing rather late in life. I was 30 years old and self-taught, as well, since I didn’t have the luxury of taking an apprenticeship,” says Adam.
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“I had bills to pay and I knew I had to make money at what I was doing and being an apprentice wasn’t going to pay the bills. I was always artistic and knew that tattooing would help me express my artistic creativity,” Adam says. “The tattoo business is booming now and it’s become part of our culture. So, I figured I would give it a shot. “I spent about six months or so drawing, getting equipment and doing a whole lot of practising,” says Adam. “I took a bloodborn pathogens course in southern Ontario, to make sure that I knew all that I had to know about safe practices.”
www.talentnorth.ca
Adam did a lot of practising on a few good friends and had about a dozen tattoos under his belt when his stress leave came to an end and he had to make a decision. He opened his shop and was busy right away — and keeps getting busier.
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