Who Did Your Ink?: Serendipity leads Ezequiel Piraino to his ideal artist

Who Did Your Ink? is the Straight’s weekly feature, where we ask badass Vancouverites about the talented artists, indelible stories, and, at times, questionable antics behind their most treasured tattoos.

What is your name?  Ezequiel Piraino.

What do you do?  I'm a graphic designer and art director at Kabuni.

Who did your ink?  An artist called Tulio Navia. He is from Colombia but is now working in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Why did you choose that artist to do your tattoo?  I'm very picky about tattoo artists and I wanted to find a good one so I could stay relaxed. I also wanted to trust him or her 100 percent with my full arm.

I remember spending four months trying to find a good artist and no one was convincing me. Then, one Sunday, I was doing some shopping and I saw this girl with an amazing leg tattoo, so I stopped her and asked her if I could take a look. It was an awesome tattoo and she told me the name of the artist, which was Tulio.

A week later, I was at a bar with friends and I saw a guy with a beautiful arm tattoo. I asked him who did it too, and it was the same artist. That led me to contact Tulio over Facebook.

Is there any meaning behind it?  According to legend, any koi that is able to scale the waterfall known as "Dragon's Gate" will be transformed into a dragon. It's a special reminder to myself about fighting obstacles or following your dream in life and not giving up.

Who's your favourite local tattoo artist?  I don't know too many artist here since i'm kind of new in the city. But the work of Bree Crosby from Gastown Tattoo Parlour (105 West Cordova Street) has caught my attention, especially because she does black and grey tattoos.

What's next on your ink list?  My next tattoo will be a scene of a classic movie. One with an image of a moon and a bullet in an eye—it's a scene from A Trip to the Moon by Georges Méliès. I'm a movie fan and I want to have that iconic image on my skin, because one day, I'd like to direct my own movie or short film.