Black and white new year

Created: 01/24/2022, 11:02 am

By: Laura Forster

Colors are forbidden: Bernhard Strasser and his tattoo colleagues are only allowed to work with black color for the time being.

He considers the ban on colors to be "completely exaggerated".

© Andrea Jaksch

The Herrsching-based tattoo artist Bernhard Strasser has been immortalising works of art on the skin of his customers for three years.

By summer he had to close his shop for several months due to corona.

Now the next blow follows with the color ban.

Herrsching –

At the end of last year, Bernhard Strasser's calendar was full of tattoo appointments. It has been quiet in his studio in Herrsching since January. A new EU regulation has banned toxic substances in tattoo inks. For Strasser and his customers, this means that initially only black tattoos can be done.

“Some have canceled or are not booking an appointment for the time being,” says the 33-year-old. "It's not easy at the moment. The color tattoos are still very popular. I estimate 40 percent of all tattoos I do are colored.” After around twenty years, the color begins to fade and needs to be refreshed. “I think the ban is completely exaggerated. The substances that are in the color are also in the stalk of the peppers, for example,” says Strasser. "I don't know anyone who was harmed by it. Besides, it's up to you whether you want a tattoo or not."

The color ban is the next challenge for the 33-year-old after the pandemic. "In the summer I had to close for a while," he says. In the meantime, business has recovered, but since the beginning of January there has been a noticeable decline in the number of appointments booked. The native of Starnberg is particularly hard hit because he only opened his studio at Jahnstraße 3 three years ago. "Everyone was very curious. The locals said there was no tattoo studio here,” remembers Strasser, who previously worked for the Munich tattoo artist “Munich.Ink” for several years.

The Herrschinger cannot complain about a lack of customers during normal times. "People come from here, but also from Frankfurt or Saxony." Strasser does not advertise on social media. "It all works through word of mouth." The trend towards tattooing has increased significantly in recent years. At the moment, tattoos based on Maori art are particularly popular, but so-called fineline tattoos are also in demand. Not only young people come to the studio in Herrsching, seniors also have one or two souvenirs engraved. "My oldest customer was 80 years old."

Bernhard Strasser himself has 17 works of art immortalized on his body, including a tiger, a Mexican goddess of death and a scorpion.

"I got most of them." He doesn't regret any of his tattoos - in contrast to some customers.

"Ass antlers aren't that modern anymore, most people want them covered." However, skin-tone color is required to cover the tattoo.

"That's currently not possible due to the ban," says Strasser.

In the distant future, colorful tattoos should be feasible again.

This is made possible, for example, by the stationery manufacturer Edding, which produces vegan colors.

"They won't be cheap," says Strasser.