Kirsten Estment is the face of Needles and Thorns Tattoo Studio. Photo / Rebecca Mauger
Kirsten Estment is the face of Needles and Thorns Tattoo Studio. Photo / Rebecca Mauger
Tattoo artist Kirsten Estment has been making her mark on the people of Katikati.
Since April, she’s been tattooing more and more locals in her new studio, Needles and Thorns on Main Rd.
People are getting used to seeing her around town with her vibrant green and purple hair. She’s covered in tattoos, including two full sleeves.
“People assume I’m a little bit different,” she says.
“I get strange looks and I guess that’s because tattoos still carry a stigma. But if you spoke to me over the phone, you would judge me entirely differently to when you meet me. I’ve have had that happen my whole life.”
She tells a hilarious story about when she was setting up shop.
“I live close by so I was walking to work carrying a hammer, as I needed to knock something up. There was a lady coming towards me and I guess I must have looked really frightening, covered in tattoos walking down the road with a hammer... she crossed the road.”
Kirsten and her partner have taken the bold step to leave Auckland’s rat race and set up shop in Katikati. They followed her partner’s parents here.
Having tattoos is much more acceptable these days, she says.
“Tattoos used to be connected with gangs and prison. The more and more different walks of life that get tattoos... that lessens the stigma. I’ve tattooed people’s fingers that work ‘normal’ jobs, it’s not [a] scary thing anymore. And there’s cosmetic tattooing now as well.
Needles and Thorns is the only tattoo studio in Katikati. Photo / Rebecca Mauger
“The people that I am tattooing are teachers, beauticians, receptionists... they’re just getting something to feel good about themselves. Every time I get a tattoo, I feel more like my authentic self, like I’m expressing myself and having a say over my body.”
Kirsten loves the way tattoos make her clients feel.
“A person may come in quite nervous and apprehensive, but when they leave they are full of smiles and standing taller, they automatically feel better about themselves. They know that they have added something to their body which looks good and it makes them feel good as well.”
Kirsten got her first tattoo at age 13. It was a gecko, by her tattoo artist father, who she learnt from.
Kirsten and her family came to New Zealand from South Africa when she was 18. The move was for a better, safer future.
She did an apprenticeship in a busy studio in Auckland but the atmosphere and long hours put her off the industry. So she swapped her needles for the corporate world.
“Which I hated,” she says. “I hated that numbers and KPIs determined your value.”
Kirsten also became sick with fibromyalgia, which hindered working fulltime, so the decision was made move to Katikati.
