Meet Brandon Rufino | Tattooer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brandon Rufino and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brandon, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Being in control of my own path is what turned me on into being a tattooer. The idea of being in control of my own path stemmed from my experience in the “real” work place.

Through out my later teenage years I always wanted to have a job, but my folks pushed the idea of finishing school to go to college to get a good job that pays well, like a lot of parents do. I reluctantly did that in the path of graphic design. My very first job ended up being in a pretty large and successful advertising agency, thanks to my buddy Aaron, who I went to college with and kept in touch. Being 20 and landing a job that fell in line with what I went to school for, steady pay check, 401K, health insurance, holiday pay, I thought I struck gold. Little did I know in that industry, as well as most industries, I would see multiple waves of lay offs with no rhyme or reason as to who got the boot. Immediately I thought to myself I should do something else with my life. A couple years into that job I felt like I lost my soul and found myself just pissed off at the majority of people that I worked with and I thought to myself this isn’t how life should be.

Luckily I found tattooing and had some good people around me who helped me out and guide me in the right path. I even gave my job basically a 6 month notice and told them my plans and that I was going to fully commit myself to tattooing. I just used that time to save up as much money as I could, because I knew the income wasn’t going to be there right away, but also I wanted to give tattooing 100% without worrying about work on the back of my mind.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Honestly it’s pretty simple what gets me going. Do the best tattoo I can possibly do each time and give my clients a good experience when they get tattooed by me. I’m always super stoked to get returning clients and also it’s probably the most rewarding to see tattoos healed they way you intended them to.

I don’t think anything sets me apart from other tattooers. At the end of the day all of our styles are our own, but we’re pretty much all just tattooing the same shit, I just put dots on mine. That was a joke, but seriously the more I was worried about having my own style and making my mark the more stressful tattooing seemed. Not that I don’t care about making my tattoos more distinct to my style, but the less I worried about making my mark, or making sure I do a certain style, the more my tattoos actually started having a cohesive look and my designs got my loose and fun. Now tattooing is just fun, because I’m more confident in myself and I’m not worried about what the industry thinks about me as a tattooer or artist.

Tattooing in a professional setting isn’t as hard as people might think it is. It’s actually not hard at all. The beginning of my career was just working for homies that were all in the same circle. Tattooing is so easily accessible now that if you wanted to open up your own shop you could make it happen fairly quickly. It’s just like any other industry try your best to network and don’t be an asshole and burn bridges. To this day I feel incredible lucky that I got hired at Highland Park Tattoo Co. It was my first time getting hired somewhere where I didn’t know anyone, and got hired strictly on the quality of my tattoos. I’m incredibly grateful for Kal Morrison, my boss, for giving me a chance to work at such a great shop with a dope crew. Before working here tattooing felt like a hobby that was helping me not starve. Now I can buy dumb shit very once I a while and that’s half the battle.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If you’re visiting LA and you’re trying to party there’s a couple places I could recommend for eating and drinking that’s walkable. Colorado Blvd in Old town Pasadena, Figueroa St in Highland Park, York Blvd in highland park, Main St. Alhambra and Sunset Blvd in Echo Park. If you’re trying to go west LA try Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice. Or if you want to get super touristy about it the Venice board walk can be fun.

Some honorable mentions for chiller vibes: Huntington Library and the Arboretum both in Arcadia. Long Beach aquarium and the Griffith observatory,

If you train martial arts come train with me at 10th planet in Pasadena for some jiu jitsu or NELA Combat fitness for some Muay Thai in Highland Park. Super friendly gyms that I love going to.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d love to shout-out the guys at The Chess Club, a tattoo studio in Upland, CA , specifically Charles Ong & Joshua Hung. They welcomed me with open arms when I was desperate to leave my 9 to 5. I would drive to them, every day after work just to hang out and draw, which eventually led into them guiding me on how to tattoo. I don’t even know how I would’ve gotten into tattooing without them being open to me taking up space and probably being too loud at times.

I have another mentor, Ignacio, who helped me with any questions I had about tattooing. I would get tattooed by him in his private studio a bunch and bring friends to get tattooed by him just so I could watch and ask questions. He’s given me a lot of knowledge about tattooing and life.

Lastly my wife Gracy who’s been with me from the start of my journey. She’s seen the ups and downs that tattooing can bring. The endless days and weeks of not making money, but never telling me to get a job and believing in me that I would find a way to make it happen one day. Also for letting me do some f*cked up tattoos on her when I was slow, which was often. I’m making up for them now by doing better tattoos on her, thankfully.

Instagram: @20yearweekend