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DESIGN GIRLS DON’T CRY A new tattoo parlour in th
e city has a quartet of women at its helm. Agne Hurt, Niamh Gannon, Lucy Harrington and Maja Chiaradia lay down their story for us. words Richard Seabrooke photos Gary Cullen – How did Girls Don’t Cry come about? Had you all worked together before? NG: The four of us had all worked together (at The Ink Factory) and knew we all got along really well. One day we just decided we wanted a quieter life and it was time to make the jump to the next chapter and hence a private studio was formed. We threw a lot of names out and Girls Don’t Cry was the one that felt right. LH: We all had the same desire, just never discussed it together before. Once the realisation came to light that we were all on the same page with the same vision, we decided to make it a reality immediately. Everything fell into place very fluently and felt natural. It was meant to be. – How has it been setting up a new studio in the middle of this global challenge? MC: I think it was meant to be, this global pandemic changed a lot of people’s reality, creating a lot of suffering but at the same time creating opportunities for people to rebuild themselves, reconsidering the importance of being happy and satisfied with the time spent on the daily basis. We can’t wait to be back to work with our customers once this second lockdown is over. NG: It’s been crazy throwing your life savings into something while there’s always another potential lockdown around the corner, but there’s no doubt in my mind that we will sacrifice what we have to to make it work. – Tattooing has blown up globally in the last few years and that has created a lot of competition and opportunity in the market. What’s your approach for Girls Don’t Cry and making sure you stand out from all the others? NG: Honestly, I don’t think we have any particular approach. We all work seamlessly together and everything just kind of flows naturally. We’re all just there to do some good tattoos, work hard and just have the laughs while creating a comfortable atmosphere for our clients. I’ve never seen anybody as my competition. All I want is for each tattoo I do to be better than the last and to constantly push myself outside of my comfort zone. If we continue to do that, I hope the work will speak for itself and that GDC will be somewhere that people automatically gravitate to. LH: I don’t view tattooing as a competition. That’s a very old school approach to the industry and there’s room for everyone. Art, like music, is a very personal taste depending on you as an individual. I think what I love the most about Girls Don’t Cry is that we all have the same love, outlook and approach to the industry and tattooing. Instead of focusing on how we can stand out from all the others, we focus internally on being the best we can be ourselves and constantly allowing artistic growth. Not everyone is going to like my work, and there’s 14