FREAKS redesigns tribal act piercing parlor as a world of tattoo culture

FREAKS redesigns tribal act piercing parlor as a world of tattoo culture
photo © david foessel
all images courtesy of FREAKS freearchitects

in different places and cultures throughout the world, the tattoos have been used as a form of art that symbolize a rite of passage, a devotion to one’s beliefs, and a decoration of bravery. since 1997, the practitioners of tribal act in paris have been honing this craft along with piercings and other body transformations that have gained the studio national and worldwide attention. looking for a way to portray this passion throughout their workspace, the three owners, nicolas, oliver, and philippe, have approached FREAKS freearchitects to redesign their double-storey office in order to reorganize their different activities.

the first floor lobby
photo © david foessel

the entire ground floor has been transformed to welcome visitors with a warm and comfortable atmosphere where they can either shop for exclusive jewelry, read through magazines and tattoo artists’ portfolios, or simply wait before their appointment. slightly modified with a cast concrete prosthesis, a staircase ascends directly to the upper floor, where the sterilization room is staged in the center and wrapped in a transparent sheet of glass. the piercing room is located in a single space toward the backyard while the tattoo rooms have been merged together into a large shared white area towards the street side. tattooists coming from all over the world now practice in an adaptive setting they can easily modify and adjust to their needs thanks to three curtains that split the volume into 2, 3 or 4 segments that create privacy cells.

(left) the stair
(right) the glass walls of the sterilization room
photo © david foessel

FREAKS proposed to feature flemish primitive painter hieronymus bosch onto the curtains to humorously illustrate both the tattoo and piercing practices and offer a captivating aesthetic to look at while being inked for long painful hours. meanwhile, furniture such as the counter, glass displays, lighting fixtures, and couches have been found in flea markets and second hand shops. the architects believe that, ‘tattoo and piercing shops are usually DIY customized and not much into design, therefore tribal act has again pioneered by asking an architecture studio to design their working space and invent new devices, new settings, new rules…’

moving the curtains to divide the room into private sub-spaces

a glazed cube reflects the curtains and sunlight
photo © david foessel

a customer waiting for her session to begin
photo © david foessel

view of the workspace
photo © david foessel

tattooing tools
photo © david foessel

view of the process
photo © david foessel

floor plans

axonometric diagram

project info:

project name: tribal act tattoo and piercing parlor
date: 2014
location: paris, 11th ward
client: private
size: 100 sqm
budget: 72,000 € EXCL.VTA
photography: david foessel

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.