Not every tattoo appointment ends with “lots of tears and lots of hugs,” but for artist Shaughnessy Otsuji, that experience is becoming more and more common. Otsuji is the co-owner of Studio Sashiko, an open concept tattoo studio specializing in hyper-realistic cosmetic tattooing (and a few vintage items, too).
Along with her husband, Kyle, Shaughnessy and the artists at Studio Sashiko offer microblading, eyebrow shaping, permanent freckles, scar camouflage–and areola ink.
Her main clientele? Breast cancer survivors, people with alopecia, transgender and non-binary folks who’ve undergone top surgery, and those looking for hyper-natural, restorative work.
“When I first started tattooing and microblading, I thought I could give people eyebrows so that they don’t have to draw them on. I realized quickly that the people who were coming to me were people who had alopecia and hair loss; or people who had a really big scar or a skin-graft on their forehead; or they had just parts of their eyebrow missing,” says Otsuji, who studied art at Emily Carr and worked her way into the industry by doing reception at a tattoo shop.
At that shop, there were a lot of women inquiring about cosmetic tattooing: permanent makeup and eyebrows, namely. With a realism and drawing background, Otsuji thought she could do a pretty realistic application, and ultimately found her passion in restorative tattooing.
“When I ended up branching into areola tattooing, it was so rewarding and it’s great to see everyone’s look on their face when they look in the mirror and say, ‘Oh my gosh, this is what I used to look like!'”
Areola tattooing, brow reshaping, and scar camouflage, Otsuji says, is essentially restoring a characteristic that the client has lost. And it’s a welcome creative challenge.
“[Nipple tattooing] is the final step for a lot of women in their breast cancer journey–they only want to do it once and forget about it,” Otsuji says. From matching single mastectomy nipples to their other half to artistically restoring hair, Otsuji’s work is detailed, meticulous and natural-looking.
“One of my client’s mastectomies had two horizontal scars across the chest, so when she got the implants put in, it put in a ripple effect because the skin was pulled so taut,” she explains. “We tattooed the nipples on and then we did some needling over top of the scars, we didn’t put any pigment in there, it was just to break up the scar tissue. It softened the scar tissue and it made the breast move again. So, not only am I creating two new focal points, I’m kind of reshaping the breast in a way.”
To raise awareness about restorative tattooing (and breast cancer), Otsuji is donating two sets of restorative nipple tattoos to the silent auction at this weekend’s Boobyball.
Boobyball is an annual one-night gala fundraiser put on by ReThink Breast Cancer, the first-ever Canadian charity to take a “breakthrough approach” to all facets of breast cancer to the 40s-and-under crowd.
“I think people don’t know that this is an option–that if you need nipples, or if you’ve had chemo and your eyebrows don’t grow back the same–it’s a service we offer,” says Otsuji.
Meet Otsuji and a handful of other vendors at the Vancouver stop of Boobyball. This year’s theme is Into The Ocean, happening Saturday, October 26 at The Permanent (330 West Pender). Snag your tickets here.
