00:00 Asia's wildest and biggest tattoo exhibition and music fest is back this weekend and to get us all pumped up for DutDutan23
00:07 joining us in the studio are DutDutan tattoo expo organizer and tribal gear founder Bobby Ruiz
00:13 and internationally recognized tattoo artist Carlo Macias.
00:17 We're so glad to have you guys here. Good morning.
00:19 Good morning and thanks for having us.
00:20 Alright, this is exciting stuff. So let's get straight to it.
00:23 Let's talk about DutDutan. In the past DutDutan runs are quite hard to top
00:28 and it just gets bigger and better every time.
00:31 How different and how bigger, how much bigger can it get this year?
00:35 I think you nailed it. It's always bigger and better. It's always exciting.
00:39 We never know what to expect. It's always a great time.
00:42 Mind-blowing event. Lots of music, culture, art, tattoos.
00:47 Just a celebration of everything that is DutDutan.
00:51 Let's talk about scale though. I mean how many tattoo artists are going to be out here participating?
00:55 How many shops? And aside from Carlo, obviously we've got some pretty big names participating.
01:01 Yeah, it's become a global event. There's tattooers coming from all over the world.
01:05 The exact number is hard for me to pin down but it fills the World Trade Center.
01:10 It's exciting to see all the people that come out from different parts of the world.
01:16 Great artists. As you might know, the Philippines has quite a history of tattooing
01:22 that dates way back and there will be a celebration of that as well at DutDutan.
01:28 It's always a great event. We really look forward to it.
01:32 It's one of those things that the crew and the states always look forward to every year
01:37 and we're excited to be here.
01:39 I think people in the scene here are obviously excited every time this time of the year comes around.
01:42 Carlo, let's talk about tattoos. What are the big trends?
01:47 What are people looking for and what are the new techniques that have come to the fore recently?
01:55 The techniques, the machines, they always change. It gets better and better throughout the years.
02:00 The machines change, the techniques change, the tattoos.
02:03 Sometimes it feels like they're going backwards.
02:05 The old trends are coming back and the new trends are still there.
02:09 There are periods where you've got a lot of typographic tattoos, tribal tattoos, realism, micro, small scale tattoos.
02:23 Do you have a particular specialty? What are you known for?
02:26 A lot of micro, small stuff and just different all around.
02:29 I love lettering and all that other stuff so I try to dabble in everything.
02:33 Tattoo scene comes full circle every few years and nothing ever really goes away and whatever is old is new again.
02:43 Absolutely. It's bigger than ever. Tattooing is larger than ever globally.
02:48 It's huge and it continues to grow.
02:51 I think the peak that it's at right now is amazing and it's going to be very interesting to see where it goes.
02:59 The quality of art that you're getting internationally is just mind-boggling sometimes.
03:04 I see stuff coming from the States and Europe and obviously here in the Philippines and all over the world that is just amazing.
03:10 It's mind-blowing that they're able to achieve such quality and it's like Carlos was saying, the equipment has a lot to do with it.
03:19 The techniques and the way that they're actually producing the tattoos is amazing.
03:25 Beyond that, technique and equipment, here rising in popularity once again is of course a very traditional type of tattoo done with thorns, with organic pigments.
03:36 Thoughts on that?
03:37 That's also very popular, very respectable because those are the international worldwide routes of tattooing and the way that it was done back then with bone and boar's teeth and different types of plant material.
03:52 Yes, it's very respectable. It's a beautiful thing.
03:56 A lot of it you see, we have there in San Diego, there's a strong movement of Polynesian style tattoos from Samoa, from the Philippines, from Hawaii, from different islands.
04:11 That's also very, very popular.
04:13 They're taking that technique and not only doing it traditionally but now they're utilizing modern equipment to do those styles.
04:21 It's beautiful.
04:24 When this time of the year comes around, everybody who's been considering a tattoo will say, "This is it. I'm going to go do it."
04:31 There's probably no better time. You've got the world's best gathering in one place.
04:35 What are your thoughts for people who are going to make that first leap into their first tattoo?
04:41 What should they be thinking about? What should they be considering?
04:45 I don't know. Is there an ideal place to get your first tattoo?
04:49 There's never an ideal place. It's where you want it. Just go for it and don't hesitate.
04:54 Any reminders? What should people think about and consider?
05:00 Man, there's tons of stuff. They should get a T-star for one.
05:04 There's people all over the world with the tribal T-star.
05:07 It's also things that are significant to you at that point in your life.
05:11 At the end of the day, if you start collecting, it becomes a story that you're telling about your life on your body.
05:18 Good or bad. Happy or sad.
05:21 It's just a point in your life that you can always see on your body.
05:27 It's a story. It's absolutely memorable.
05:30 Try to get quality tattoos because I think that's important.
05:36 It's just quality over quantity.
05:39 It's something you're going to wear 365, 24/7 for the rest of your life.
05:43 Like you said, it's part of your story.
05:46 Every good book has a chapter. You've got to start somewhere.
05:50 It's a point where the story continues to tell itself and you keep adding on to that story.
05:55 When you talk about quality, what should you be looking for?
05:58 You know, that's preference.
06:01 It's like any art form. It's what you like.
06:05 What's your style? Something that may be appealing to me might not be appealing to Carlo and vice versa.
06:11 But quality in the way that it's executed.
06:14 Just quality in the line work, in the design, the artist.
06:19 It's good to get good tattoos when you can.
06:23 You have to consider the budget as well, but I think it's really important to do it that way.
06:29 Right. Well, there's never been a better time to celebrate everything tattoo.
06:32 Absolutely.
06:33 Dutan23, we'll see you all there.
06:35 Bobby, Carlos, thank you so much for joining us.
06:37 Thank you so much for having us.
06:38 It's a pleasure.
06:39 Dutan.
06:40 (upbeat music)
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