Chris Bezencon has been putting ink on Jaz for almost two decades.
Jaz is having more fine work completed on his left sleeve upon which are a very ornately tattooed tui and native flora.
His other arm is fully inked and a Spitfire is easily recognisable amongst the images. Jaz is happy for Chris to fill in some of his back story.
The tui and other related birds and foliage was started in January.
“The top tribal piece was finished years ago. The other sleeve [on the right arm features] a lot of Jaz’s life and passions and history,” says Chris.
“The aircraft carrier [HMS Formidable] is for his granddad [from the UK], the WWII fighter planes are for his father and helicopter is his mum’s business.
“I’ve learned Jaz’s life story – you have really good intimate conversations with people so you learn a lot about people.”
Chris is packing away his tattoo machine after almost 35 years running his Eastside Tattoo Studio business in Vincent Street, Howick. He’s almost 58.
It’s time, he says, for a change and to pivot and it’s not scaring him to be shutting up shop at all. He recalls the date he opened – August 17, 1989.
“I’ve been doing this for 38 years. I had a business partnership in Ponsonby and came out here.
A planned trip to Australia back then was thwarted with a relationship ending.
“That was it, I decided to stay. It’s funny how fate takes you on a course,” says Chris.
“What it’s actually taught me, particularly in the last couple of years, mainly since just before lockdown, is just to be very fluid in my life and let that course take me … obviously [you] have [to use] your smarts and instincts along the way.
“I’m quite excited to see where it’s going to take me with not-a-lot of planning, if that makes sense.
“What I realised, and I’m going down a rabbit hole a little bit here, was how much fear had controlled my life and I think that’s something a lot of people resonate with. We don’t realise how much fear makes decisions for us.”
His most endearing memories in nearly 40 years in business is the relationships forged with clients.
“I opened it with the intention of opening a custom-based tattoo studio and I thought it was about the art – and it has been about the art – but it’s actually turned out to be more about the people,” says Chris.
“Like Jaz here who’s been coming for 18-20 years. They actually become a family. I’ve already had a couple of customer friends come down and hang out with us in [hometown] Christchurch and spent time with us.
“How often do you walk into a shop and end up doing that? I count myself as very fortunate to have this.”
And there’s the relative freedom in terms of time has given him breathing space in his day.
“But also the people that you meet, you just learn and listen about people’s lives and amazing perspectives and life stories if you open yourself up to listen,” he says.
“Every single person contributes, every single one. You come away after listening to a family that’s lost a son or a daughter and I’m consumed in the background by my issues or problems and I think, after they’ve left, ‘what problems or issues do I have?
“Even though some of those have been very negative with trauma-based memorabilia tattoos … they actually have a very positive impact on me.”
Chris seems to have a feel for timing and has an innate resilience.
In the two businesses he’s had, he’s survived four major recessions and – at the time of our interview, he predicted a fifth. He was right.
“That’s been a really good learning curve. You can see the weather and the storm coming. I’ve learned to adapt in my business to sit [through] those times.”
Covid, however, was another matter entirely.
“It was like slamming on the brakes but I saw that coming. I don’t want to sound conspiratorial because I’m not.
“I learned a long time ago to survive in business you really have to take in the mainstream views,” says Chris.
“You really have to listen to alternate views as well. I started making contingency plans at that time too, both personally and in business.
“I started to reduce my personal debt as much as I could and [at the same time] secure as much of my work situation and make sure I could hibernate my business.
“I stole the mantra from US Navy Seals which is adapt, improvise and overcome and that progressed me to the next phase of my life which was just be water, just be fluid.”
True to his philosophy, Chris is out job hunting and was exploring work in the building industry [his original career was in engineering].
“What it was, and it sounds crazy, but I did a bungy jump about a year before Covid. I went up that harbour bridge as one person because I have a massive fear of heights.
“I came back down off the bridge another person and then I realised that fear had really controlled a lot of my decision-making,” says Chris.
“I can see it in people now – I can really see when people are using fear to make their decisions. We always have a little fear in our decision making.
“That’s our instincts kicking in but sometimes it can paralyse us and it did for a long time.”
Chris could not be reached for a follow-up, although he did say he was closing the business this month. On an Instagram feed he is pictured with livestock and he declares he is now a farmer.
“The farm breeds calves and has a bull stud programme as well, so my first two roles are tending to herds and the insemination programme, so I’ll be wearing much longer gloves than what I’m used too.”
That post was on April 1 so who really knows.
