Meet Rich Marafioti of Wild Wind Tattoo in Wicker Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rich Marafioti.

Rich, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I moved to Chicago in 2003 after receiving a BFA in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. I began tattooing in 2005 and opened up Wild Wind tattoo in 2015.

Originally from NY I saw a lot of older friends getting some amazing tattoos from artists in NYC. I couldn’t wait to get a tattoo as soon as I turned 18. After graduating from college I started to pursue tattooing as a source of income until my career as a freelance illustrator picked up. Once I started to get immersed in the medium I began to gain great respect for its history and learned that tattooing wasn’t just a supplemental trade but an incredible technical challenge from drawing, critical thinking and application.

For 10 years I tattooed at a few shops in the city of Chicago. I finally got to the point of knowing that I had make a big move in order have more stability for me and my family. As well I wanted to have a space where art could be expressive alongside tattooing and create an overall vibe of a place I would want to get tattooed in. From hospitality to providing the service of applying a proper tattoo to exposing people to other forms of visual art.

Has it been a smooth road?
With every new experience people make some mistakes. You are entering the unknown. Decisions ultimately fall on your shoulders so a lot of thinking comes into play with owning a business. Sometimes you try something once, if it doesn’t pan out well at least you tried it. I feel the most important thing is being able to critique yourself or a situation. I’ve learned a lot about this through talking about art in college and through tattooing and fellow tattooers. No one should be above healthy critiquing or asking advice from others. I think that makes a good business, being in tune with what the people around you see. It’s easy to have tunnel vision and sometimes we make selfish decisions.

Working in other shops for a period of time has been educational. I’ve seen a lot of healthy and not so healthy situations. In my time working for other people I’ve taken some mental notes which have helped me understand what I would want to and not want to do at Wild Wind Tattoo.

To be honest opening a shop has been one of the best moves I’ve ever made. The road has be pretty smooth with really no regrets at all. I think the biggest struggle with owning a business is being considerate of others working with you, their feelings and needs. Having open communication and honestly is key to having a healthy space to work in and making those people want to be there. When clients come in and see a clean, exciting space with people working there that care about what they do and are considerate they remember that.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Wild Wind Tattoo story. Tell us more about the business.
I own Wild Wind Tattoo and I’m also a full time tattoo artist at the shop.

I’d say I have a style but I’m capable of doing many types of tattoos. I feel that tattooing is a service we provide. As a tattooer I should be able to meet the needs of all my customers in the field of tattooing. With that being said there are certain things that don’t look good as a tattoo, we have to educate our clients as to what will look good and readable as a tattoo and what will look good as the tattoo ages. Ultimately I would be doing a disservice to people if they came in and I said “I don’t do tattoos like that”. Tattooers should be well rounded and experienced to apply all types of tattoos. I try not to stay confined to specializing in one specific thing.

The one thing I may be known for is doing Japanese style tattoo work.

What I am most proud of about the shop is that we have strived to create a welcoming space for all people. Tattooing is such a huge thing now, no one should be getting a bad tattoo and no one should feel intimated when they come into a tattoo shop. As well no one should feel like their idea won’t be treated with respect.

What sets us apart from other shops is that we’ve tried to create an inviting and interesting space. We feature different art installations in the back of the shop that we change every few months. We’ve hosted parties with local and traveling bands, a record fair and we just hosted a pop up art fair. We do a coat and hat drive during the winter and had a weekend benefit where all the shop profits went to the victim’s families of the Orlando nightclub shooting. Having this space gives us a platform to do different things we feel strongly about other than tattooing yet tie them together. Tattoos have to be done a certain way to look good and there is no type of tattoo we won’t do, from small lettering to large scale work. Aside from that we can express ourselves in other ways and expose our clientele to cool things we are also into. I feel that these things put a personality to the business.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Tattoo trends come and go and some stay the same, there are certain things that are just classic.

To be ahead of all this I feel it’s important to be well rounded as I said before. We are here for the customer, to give them their tattoo. We get to put our spin on it but to tell people what to get is selfish when the customer is the one that goes home with the tattoo. Then it’s theirs and they live with it. There is a lot of trendiness in tattooing now but we want people to seek out good tattoos not just one certain type of tattoo. That’s what walk-in street shop tattooing is.

Pricing:

• $60 minimum
• $150 an hour for larger work.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1452 N. Western Ave.
• Website: www.wildwindtattoo.com
• Phone: 773-227-2027
• Email: wildwindtattoo@gmail.com
• Instagram: wildwindtattoo
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildwindtattoo/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wild-wind-tattoo-chicago

Image Credit:
Photos by Ryan Zeller