Ami James Biography, Age, Family, Wife, Tattoodo, Tattoo Shop & Interview

BIOGRAPHY OF AMI JAMES

Ami James is an American tattoo artist, television personality, and entrepreneur born in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. He co-owns the Love Hate Tattoos tattoo parlor in Miami Beach, Florida with Chris Nunez , the subject of the TLC reality show, Miami Ink

James suffered from severe ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) which led him to art and tattooing from an early age. Her father had tattoos and was also a painter. He got his first tattoo when he was 15. For him, it was an experience that led him to become a tattoo artist.

FRIEND JAMES AGE

Ami was born on April 6, 1972 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. He turns 46 in 2018.

FAMILY FRIEND JAMES

Her father was an American who worked with the Israeli army and converted to Judaism three years before moving to Israel. In Israel, he met James’s mother who had emigrated from Bucharest. He spent his childhood in Israel and Egypt. His father left the family when James was four and so he grew up without his father.

When he was 11 or 12, James moved to the United States and lived with his grandparents (his father’s parents) before moving to Miami when he was 12. He returned to Israel as a teenager to complete his military service in the Israel Defense Forces as a sniper, which he completed.

FRIEND JAMES WIFE

Ami is married to Jordan Kidd, an American football player. They married on October 11, 2016 and have two children, Shayli Haylen and Nalia James. James was previously married to Andrea O’Brian from September 2005 until they divorced the following year (2006).

Friend James Kids

The tattoo artist is the father of two daughters: Shayli Haylen James born August 3, 2008 and Nalia James born May 8, 2012.

CAREER OF AMI JAMES

James began his apprenticeship with fellow tattoo artist Lou at Tattoos By Lou in 1992. Currently, he is co-owner (with Chris Núñez) of the Love Hate Tattoos tattoo parlor in Miami Beach, Florida, the subject of the show TLC reality show, Miami Ink. He also co-owns other businesses like the DeVille clothing company with Núñez and Jesse Fleet and the Miami nightclub Love Hate Lounge, along with Núñez and two other close friends.

Besides his tattoo business, James created designs for Motorola’s RAZR V3 mobile phones and invested in a jewelry line, Love Hate Choppers Jewelry, with Boston jeweler Larry Weymouth.

He had a show, NY Ink in New York, where he announced filming plans on his blog. He had announced that filming would start in March 2011 and the show would premiere on June 2, 2011. It has three seasons with the first season of season 2 in December 2011 and running until March 1, 2012 and the third premiered on April 4, 2013.

In November 2012, it was announced that James was opening a tattoo studio called ‘Love Hate Social Club’ in London, UK. This attracted a number of guest tattoo artists, including Darren Brass , Megan Massacre and Chris Nunez .

He partnered with PETA in 2013 in an ad for their “Ink Not Mink” campaign. In May of the same year, he co-founded Tattoodo, an online platform for obtaining personalized tattoo designs.

NET WORTH OF AMI JAMES

He has an estimated net worth of $5.1 million.

AMI JAMES TATTOO SHOP

The Tattoo Shop is an eight-episode documentary for Facebook Watch that follows James and his former Miami Ink teammate Chris Nuñez, most recently known as a judge on Paramount Network’s Ink Master, as they once again attempt to land the title. gold with the all-new Liberty City. Tattoo in Wynwood.

It brings together tattoo pioneers Ami James, Chris Nunez , Chris Garver , Darren Brass and Tommy Montoya as they open their new shop and take on the next generation of tattoo artists.

FRIEND JAMES TATTOOS

Friend James Tattoos

FRIEND JAMES ON FACEBOOK

FRIEND JAMES ON TWITTER

FRIEND JAMES INSTAGRAM

https://www.instagram.com/p/BnBxvDLHsY2

FRIEND JAMES INK MASTER

Friend, thank you for being here with us! If you don’t mind, we would like to start by talking about your background, because your story is very interesting: you were born in Israel and then lived in Egypt, before moving to the United States, to Miami. Two strong cultures, which could also have influenced your personality and your creativity.

Yes, I would definitely say my travel made me who I am today – even through the tough times, like moving from my home country and then travelling. All these experiences have definitely influenced my personality.

You went to Miami when you were eleven, and six years later you got into the tattoo business. How did this happen and why did you choose the tattoo?

I came to Miami in 1984, and at that time there was a huge punk rock scene that I seemed to be drawn into because, in a way, I felt like an outsider here: I came from Israel and did not speak English. so well. I was embraced by this punk culture that didn’t really consider me an outsider. And that’s how I got into drawing things for punk bands – flyers, album covers, things like that. At the time, there was a lot of tattoo imagery in punk rock: skulls, skeletons, stuff like that… So that was my first taste of tattooing.

In 1992, when I got out of the army, I came back to the United States and for my twenty-first birthday, I was bought my first tattoo equipment. This person was my brother’s best friend; he knew i wanted to start tattooing so badly that he left and spent his paycheck to buy me a machine and some needles to help me. At that time, I was having a lot of issues, so it ended up being perfect because it gave me a glimpse of my future. At my 21st birthday breakfast, I opened a box that changed my life forever. Unfortunately, six months later, my friend hanged himself in the living room. So it was a pretty rough start for the tattoo, and I knew I couldn’t change a thing. But I wanted to make the best of this sad situation and prove that I could do something with this gift. I knew I had to do an apprenticeship.

And that’s what you did: at Tattoos by Lou, a very old school apprenticeship… and thanks to him, you learned those values ​​that no longer exist in the world of tattooing. What are the most important things you learned from Lou?

At the time, there was only one reputable tattoo shop in Miami, which was Tattoos by Lou. I started hanging out there a lot, trying to get a tattoo, looking out the window. At the time, Luis Segato and Troy Lane worked in the shop along with other big names, and Lou was definitely an old-school guy. He had worked with Paul Rogers for a long time and it was not easy to get into their tattoo shop! But eventually, I think I broke Lou, and he agreed to let me in. I was washing the floor, washing his cars, stuff like that.

How was he?

He was a very funny man, full of life, a very good businessman! He had been a junkie for many years and managed to clean up his life. And he wanted to take people like me, who were going through a tough time in their lives, and help them change. I don’t think Lou had any other apprentices besides me. I don’t know if it’s absolutely true, but I’ve never met another apprentice of Lou.

What was a typical day in the store like?

I started doing everything! Everything that had nothing to do with tattoos, ie: I was cleaning, going to get things from the supermarket… I was like his shop boy, but it was the only way to get started in the tattoo. As much as I wasn’t that kind of person, I had to. Some days I hated him and we fought. But in fact, I liked the guy like my father! Slowly but surely, two years later, I was doing tattoos and Lou was allowing me to have my own clients. Sometimes he put down my tattoos, but that was his way of pushing me forward. You see, at the time, it was not easy.

It’s so important that you share your experience, especially since the tattoo scene is now completely different; young tattoo artists begin to work as if they were already great professionals, with clean and perfect hands. Most of them have no idea what it was like to start tattooing back then.

Absolutely, they learn everything on YouTube, but back then we didn’t even have the internet. Miki, you were already part of the tattoo scene back then, so you know what I’m talking about. It was just tough, people in the industry were really tough people. The people who came to get tattoos were not the same as today; I mean there was a gun in the very drawer of the shop. Once I asked Lou why he had all these guns and he said because at 11 o’clock at night you don’t know who walks into the tattoo shop. It was a different world!

Miki: One thing that’s very clear when I look at your work is that you’re a tattoo artist who knows how to do tattoos in all styles, and you’re very good at it. You chose to focus on Japanese style, then lettering, then Chicano. Maybe you know how to do everything because you learned to tattoo in a shop where you had to give the best of yourself for any customer request. But now you see more and more tattoo artists who are starting to think that they have to specialize in a particular style: only lettering, only Japanese, only traditional, etc… What do you think of this new trend?

You know Miki, it’s funny, because I think only me, you and maybe a handful of other people notice these things. It’s true, at the time, you had to be able to do everything, otherwise you would never have been hired. So I was trying to find myself as much as anyone trying to grow up and I had some amazing people that I could always look up to, in that sense. After 25 years, I am finally discovering my Japanese comfort zone. Over the past ten years I’ve focused on this style and maybe I’ve finally found what works best for me: how to make a piece last longer, how to make it better. Now maybe I will also find my black and gray comfort zone… I am still learning day by day.