For the last 12 years, Scotland County native Richard Parrish of Dreamerz Ink has been tattooing — but it was in the last year he’s been going to various competitions and bringing home awards.
Most recently, he won five awards at Tattoo Fest in Raleigh and a second-place award at the All-American Convention in Fayetteville.
“I feel a sense of accomplishment — for a small-town guy like me to have his name called at this big conventions is huge,” Parrish said. “I’ve worked so hard over the years and it makes me feel great knowing that I’m getting recognized.”
According to Parrish, his father got him into the idea of tattooing since he always loved to draw growing up, but his mother was against it, saying that it was a hobby and he needed a real job.
So he got a job at the local glass plant, but was still doing tattoos on the side until he eventually was getting so many messages about doing tattoos he decided to open up his own shop.
“It was a really tough decision for me since I was making good money and I had four kids to feed,” Parrish said. “I knew if I left my job and it didn’t work out, I was taking food out of their mouths … but it all worked out, thankfully.”
For Parrish, it was important for him to put something in the place he was born and raised. While many told him not to open a studio in Laurinburg, as many hadn’t been successful, he wanted to bring something to the community. He has since brought people from Fayetteville, Raleigh and other surrounding communities to the area for tattoos.
“I wanted to be able to put something in my city,” Parrish said. “I wanted to have a place in my city that people could get great tattoos … I like to think Laurinburg is on the up and it helps being able to have all these people coming here for tattoos.”
When he first opened Dreamerz Ink, which will celebrate five years in May, he said people could just walk in and he could do numerous tattoos a day. But recently he has started working to turn it into more of a private studio where it’s appointments only to focus on the quality of the artwork going into the tattoos.
“It’s a small, homey studio and I want people to feel comfortable,” Parrish said. “I’m the only artist there so people aren’t feeling pressured by anything.”
Parrish added that he’s thankful for his wife Brittany, who helps him run the studio by doing everything he doesn’t, such as taking appointments, and for being there since the beginning, along with his friend Johnathan Chavis, who was the one who began suggesting and pushing for him to go to these shows and has several of the award-winning pieces on his body.
Dreamerz Ink has a Facebook page for those interested in seeing more of Parrish’s work. To book an appointment, call 910-384-1555, Parrish does suggest texting the number, as it is just he and his wife running the studio.
Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at kgandee@laurinburgexchange.com
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