Don Ed Hardy

Quite possibly the most well-known name in American tattooing next to Sailor Jerry (aka Norman K Collins), Don Ed Hardy has carved out a career in tattooing and art that spans more than five decades. Born in Iowa but raised almost entirely in Southern California cities like Newport Beach and San Diego, DEH's fascination with tattooing started before he even entered high school. He and his friends would paint sailor flash on each other, and a chance meeting with Bert Grimm sparked his curiosity in making this tattoo dream a possibility. But he was way too young, and so Ed focused more on an art education by moving to San Francisco in college. It wasn't long until he'd have another run-in with tattooing, and he eventually discovered a local icon: Phil Sparrow.

Ed's discovery of Phil Sparrow would eventually lead him to the world of Japanese tattooing. This is exactly what reconnected DEH with the tattooed arts, and so began his journey into skin art once again. After working in numerous tattoo shops throughout the 1960s and early 70s (from Phil Sparrow to Zeke Owen and Doc Webb), Ed would open Realistic Tattoo in San Francisco and a new way of custom tattooing in the United States was born.

Following in Sailor Jerry's footsteps, Ed Hardy began visiting Japan and working with artists like Kazuo Oguri (Gifu Horihide) and Yokohama's Horiyoshi III. The two Japanese artists were very receptive to Ed's way of tattooing, and global tattooing was to be changed forever. Ed first brought attention to these Japanese masters with his magazine Tattootime, which gave him more of a push into the world of publishing. Keibunsha released Horiyoshi's World in the early 1980s, as well, a complete picture of the life and tattooing style of Horiyoshi II (Tamotsu Kuronuma) and his father Horiyoshi I (Kanae Kuronuma). Thanks to Ed, this essential book was released in both Japanese and English.