ABOUT

Union Tattoo shop front

Union tattoo is a modern custom tattoo parlour located at 311 Willis Street in the vibrant upper Cuba district of Wellington, New Zealand.

We are a shop with a different approach to tattooing, our creative artists work closely with you to create the tattoo you deserve helping you put your thought’s and ideas on to skin. We specialize in custom one off tattoos by appointment but also welcome walk ins, first-timers, old timers, ladies, gentlemen, rascals and royalty. Your design or our design Every tattoo is individual and important to us.

We have a varied mix of full time resident artists and frequently host guest artists from around New Zealand and the world. We encourage our resident artists to regularly travel around New Zealand and overseas constantly learning and pushing our art forward, striving to be the best we can be and stay at the forefront of modern tattooing.

Feel free to drop in for a chat, shoot us an email or call to arrange and a free consultation.


Frequently Asked Questions


Sometimes it is possible to come in and get tattooed on the same day, but we can get very busy with bookings over certain periods. To make sure you can get your tattoo done on the day you want and by your chosen artist its best to book and appointment. Every tattoo is important to us, we like to make every tattoo individual and make all of our customers feel comfortable and give them the time they deserve, making an appointment helps us achieve this.

You must leave a non-refundable deposit for all bookings. To do this it is easiest to pop into the store, have a chat with your chosen artist about your tattoo idea then book your appointment. If you are travelling from further away it is possible to pay a deposit online and correspond via email or phone. You can also arrange a free consultation to discuss your design and ideas before you book your appointment, this is advisable for all larger scale work.

The deposit you leave is non refundable but will be deducted from the total price of your tattoo. Leaving a deposit helps us get rid of the time wasters, We can get very busy in the studio, and sometimes we have to turn people away or book them in at a later date because we have bookings all day. we do not charge for consultations or drawings, so deposits are a guarantee and commitment. If you book an appointment and don’t turn up then you have prevented someone else from getting tattooed and wasted our artists time. We take a deposit to make sure people commit to their appointment time and turn up. Also a lot of the custom tattoos are drawn up after work, after hours in the artists free time which can take hours in some cases. When people don’t show up they have wasted time drawing a tattoo.

Yes you will, however We understand sometimes things happen that prevent people from turning up, if you can’t make your appointment please try to give us a least 48 hours notice and we can rebook you for another time and you won’t loose your deposit. If something terrible has happened to you on the day of your tattoo phone us as soon as you can and we will try and rebook you.

There are a lot of factors to consider while pricing a tattoo, size, detail and placement all determine the cost of the tattoo, it is extremely hard to give an accurate quote for tattoos via email or over the phone so your best bet is to come in and chat with one of our friendly artists. We only charge hourly on tattoos over 5 hours. All other tattoos will be quote as a piece.

At union tattoo our age policy is over 18 or 16 with parental consent. If you are over 16 your parent MUST be present with you in person, you will need to fill out a parental consent form and you will both need photo ID.

Absolutely, if you have a design you already have or a tattoo you have designed yourself then bring it in with you, if it is exactly what you want we can make a stencil directly from your design or we can re draw it for you so it is perfect.

Don’t panic, we specialise in custom tattoos, so come in and have a chat with one of our artists, they will be able to draw your design for you, if you have reference pictures that is always good to help us know what you like and want your tattoo to look like but we also have lots of reference books we can look through together and get your idea out of your head onto paper and onto your skin.

We pride ourselves on the cleanliness of our studio, and constantly strive to be the cleanest and most sterile studio in Wellington, while there are no guidelines within New Zealand to govern the cleanliness of tattoo studios, we run to strict guidelines on sterilisation and cleanliness set out in the U.K. and Europe. Before each tattoo the workspace is cleaned with a medical grade disinfectant, then all the beds, instruments and work tops are covered to create a sterile field. All our needles are pre sterilised and single use, once we finish a tattoo the needles are disposed of in clinical sharps bins. Our ink is poured into single use caps and complies with E.U. standards and most brands we use are made from organic pigments, which are safe for vegans. Instruments are cleaned in our modern, digital ultrasonic and steralised every morning in our state of the art digital autoclave, which records the press and temperature to ensure all instruments have reached the right levels to be sterile. Our work area’s are cleaned after every tattoo with medical grade disinfectant to ensure there is no risk of cross contamination between our clients.