‘Bold will hold’: Velvet Rose Tattoo Club Takes Hold in Rogers Park

Although the artistic community thrives in Rogers Park and Edgewater, tattoo artist Jonny Watson was shocked Loyola’s neighborhoods were without a nearby tattoo shop, especially given the high volume of tattoo studios in the city of Chicago. 

Familiar with Rogers Park from when his wife, Carly Watson, attended Loyola between 2014 and 2018, the married pair had their eye on the neighborhood to open a tattoo studio of their own. 

Jonny and Carly Watson’s tattooed vision came to fruition in the form of Velvet Rose Tattoo Club, a studio located only a few blocks from Loyola’s campus at 1333 W. Devon Ave. The tattoo club celebrated their opening day Jan. 20. 

“We’ve known there isn’t really any tattoo shop in the area, and when Carly was in college, we would hang out around here a lot,” Jonny Watson said. “We kind of noticed it then, and then just hanging out at Hollywood Beach and driving up and down Devon.”

“It’s just a beautiful neighborhood,” Carly Watson continued. “I feel like there’s a really great community from students, and then I also feel like there’s a lot of people that have lived in the neighborhood for so many years.”

Velvet Rose will operate with five tattoo artists, including Jonny Watson, while Carly Watson will work on the operations side of the business, covering the marketing, public relations and everything in between. 

As a collective, Velvet Rose’s artists specialize in American Traditional tattooing, which features bold lines, complete outlines, stark coloring and iconic imagery. Jonny Watson said the style looks back on the ‘40s and ‘50s old-school sailor tattoos and continues the tradition. 

“ A lot of times people will say, ‘Bold will hold,’” Carly Watson said, explaining the phrase has become something of a mantra or motto for the style which not only stands the test of time on skin, but has also remained steadfast throughout history. 

While Jonny Watson was growing up, his grandpa had sailor tattoos from his time in the Navy, which inspired him to want his own ink. Later, while he attended the now-closed American Academy of Art College located downtown, Jonny Watson was finally able to snag a tattooing apprenticeship through a classmate, setting sail on a 15-year, ink-filled career.

“We don’t only do traditional,” Jonny Watson reassured. “A lot of people here are more than capable of doing any other styles. That’s just kind of what we promote as our favorite style to do.”

Alongside his fellow artists, Jonny Watson previously worked at Fudo Tattoo at 5606 N. Western Ave. before quitting to start Velvet Rose. The group, particularly Jonny and Carly Watson, have been working on their studio space on Devon Avenue since August to get it ready for clients. 

Miraya Vlacho, a managing partner at Edgewater Pointe who helped Jonny and Carly Watson rent their space, said she was thrilled to bring more creatives to Devon Avenue. She even helped the couple obtain a Special Use Permit, so they could operate a tattoo shop while abiding by zoning requirements. 

When finding business to fill spaces on Devon Avenue, Vlacho said she tries to promote the “Elevate Devon” corridor plan, which aims to improve the area of the street between Sheridan Road and Ravenswood Avenue. 

Once Velvet Rose officially opened, Vlacho said she was impressed with how Jonny and Carly Watson made the space their own. She explained she wanted to be a little surprised, so she had avoided checking in on them too much until it was finished.   

On opening day, Velvet Rose tattoo artist Andrew Mullens was using his first official appointment to tattoo his girlfriend, Chelsea Caplan, who Mullens met at a previous tattoo shop when Caplan got a walk-in tattoo. 

“I wanted her to be the first person I tattooed on the grand-opening day,” Mullens said while cleaning up a colorful bird tattoo on Caplan’s upper thigh. 

The two said they have been working one tattoo at a time to cover Caplan’s legs with ink. 

“Definitely a labor of love,” Mullens said. “It’s a lot of space to fill.”

Eva Nemec, who previously tattooed with Jonny Watson and Mullens, said being back in Rogers Park has been a “full circle” moment for her since she completed her apprenticeship in the neighborhood in 2017.

Though excited to be back in the Rogers Park and Edgewater community, Nemec has been shocked more tattoo shops haven’t popped up in her time away from the neighborhood.

“When I started tattooing, I’m serious, there was like nothing — it was just us,” Nemec said. “Now, I feel like there was maybe a couple more, but I’m very surprised that there aren’t more.”

Nemec typically favors an illustrative style of tattooing, but since she comes from a comic background, she said she loves to fuse traditional and comic-style art into her tattoos. While she said she’s down to work with her clients on almost any type of tattoo, she likes introducing them to styles they maybe aren’t as familiar with. 

“You can always show people things that they didn’t know existed,” Nemec said. “Maybe they’ll be like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know I could get something like that. Maybe I want that.’” 

Velvet Rose Tattoo Club will accept walk-ins, but appointments can be made by contacting artists via Instagram DM. All five artists can be found through the tattoo shop’s Instagram page, @velvetrosetattooclub. 

Velvet Rose is open everyday from 11 a.m. until “???” — or until the last tattoo is done, Jonny Watson said.