All Rainbows and Unicorns

Clockwise: Luis Pereira, Greg Arpin, Dave Asgarian and Harley Bean. Photography by Chad Weeden

How did you get into tattooing?

Greg Arpin, co-owner: I come from Massachusetts and when I first started, tattooing was illegal in the state. There were no shops. My brother had started doing it from home and I was like, “Hey, I’m creative, I could totally do this.” I started getting the supplies and then I built my own little personal studio in my basement. I taught myself and then finally, Massachusetts opened up to tattooing. I got into a shop and started apprenticing. Eventually I met Dave and then we started chitchatting and that’s how Unicorn was born. @cubglam_tattoo

Dave Asgarian, co-owner: When I was young, I would draw on myself. I would start a spiral on my hand and continue it all the way up my arm. I just like the look of body art. But I never even thought about it as a career till Greg. He was one of the first tattoo artists I knew personally —  he ended up giving me my first tattoo. I loved it. I started to get into tattooing myself then took a break to focus on graphic design. I tattooed here and there, but then in 2012 I went all in with Greg. We opened the first Unicorn Ink in 2012 on Mineral Spring. @firsteditiondave

Tell us about the current shop.

Asgarian: We moved here to [to Lincoln] about four years ago to accommodate our growing team of artists. We did the glitter floors ourselves and we even bought little unicorns and just threw them in there too. The attention to detail is super important to us. A lot of [the artists] here are nerds and gamers, so you’ll see a lot of that aesthetic when you come in. We put the walls up so each could have their own room, too. Many parlors have open floor plans, but for us, I think there were two major things we wanted to do. One, give people their privacy with room to bring friends with them, and two, let each artist personalize their own space and make it a home away from home. Most have their own specializations, and their rooms match their style. Then the waiting area is another fun place where people can hang out. As for the tattoos, when people are looking for local artists who do bright, colorful, pop-culture-related things, they usually find this place during their research.

Arpin: And one of the main goals here is whether you are atheist or religious, gay or straight, big or small, any race or any gender, there should be no reason why you shouldn’t feel welcome.

The lobby of Unicorn Ink. Photography by Chad Weeden

How did you end up here?

Luis Pereira, resident artist: I’m from Portugal and I started with graffiti. I met the owner of a shop back home, and I would hang around and show them my drawings. Eventually they took me on as an apprentice. I spent two years managing the shop before I got to start tattooing. That was about fifteen years ago. As for Unicorn, I met Greg a few years back and I wanted to come work here because I love how colorful, non-traditional and gay-friendly it is. We started working on getting my O1B artist visa and I officially joined back in February of this year. I’ve done a lot of fine line recently, but I really like clients who come to me with crazy, cool ideas. I recently won an award for Most Unusual Tattoo at the Providence Tattoo Convention. @luis_bold

Harley Bean, resident artist: I have a BFA in illustration. I’ve been drawing cartoons pretty much. since I could hold a pencil. During the height of the pandemic, a lot of people were paying me to design their tattoos for them. My friends encouraged me like, “Why don’t you start tattooing?” I was already a client of Unicorn Ink, so I emailed them to shoot my shot. They first hired me as a receptionist and eventually one of the artists, Nick, let me apprentice with him. Now I am fully licensed. I would call my style illustrative — I draw a lot of characters and creatures, or get requests like, “I want this content but in your handiwork.” Working the front desk was also a great experience because I gained the foundation of how to talk about tattoos and answer questions. I feel like not a lot of people realize there’s a huge customer service portion that goes into this. I think that’s probably one of the biggest compliments we get here is that people feel comfortable and have fun here. Also, it really goes to show if you go into downtown Providence into the more queer club scene, you can’t go very far without finding someone who doesn’t have something from one of us. @beansdoodles

100 Higginson Ave., STE 1, Lincoln, 335-5836, unicornink.com, @unicornink