PATRICK COSTE | PUBLISHED JUN 24, 2022

Last weekend was NIX2022, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Founded in 1998 by the late Damian Mcgrath, an unforgettable and sometimes controversial character who ran a great show for many years, bringing together master tattooers of all walks of life for us to discover. Damian’s passion for tattooing and his tattoo travels led this tattoo advocate to live a dream life; the tattoo life. Like many of you, we’re happy to see his legacy carry on with NIX.

The new generation of organizers, including @dan_allaston_tattoos @milenatattooer along with the team formed by @djmcgrath69 over the years, made this edition of NIX one to remember and not just because of the familiarity. If you've been at NIX before you would’ve felt like we’d never had a break. It was the same good old feeling of pure joy and camaraderie in good ol Toronto.

Tattooers and suppliers alike were happy to see each other and carry on our merry way doing our thing, trading stories and stickers, as we’ve done so many times before! This was a great feeling.

Right from the start, each day was led by joyful hotel greetings which carried right through to the classic after hours dinners and afterparties.

Some of the NIX regulars included: @hllywd_homicide @damncoyotechris @wiseguytattoo, Ali K @goodtattoos @cloutiermichael and our booth neighbour @stevepeacetattoos who always delivers good times and fancy drinks. There was also @winterbottomtattoocompany, Jesse from @red9ine, @mattmajka, @sammydecaentattoo @sparrow_hands_art and crazy good tattooer @rinzinart (who traveled from Seoul), coming by to check out the colour and talk a bit about ink and the new regulations over in Europe.

Toronto transplant @greaglaraigne also popped by for a short few minutes and @melissa_valiquette showed up with the DFA crew who are just peachy keen!

@billydecola's contagious energy also contributed to the good times and he gave a great seminar on scalp micro pigmentation. Speaking of which, his new line of Solid Ink for PMU and Scalp pigmentation created waves and helped to make this event a success!

We’ve also gotta mention the talent and top notch tattooing from some of Toronto’s finest including @chronicink, who are always stellar. A few newer shops also attended, like @lamanigancetattootoronto’s own Ossian who collected a few awards over the weekend!

Other awards went to the talented RJ Valencarina whose passionate work ethic is through the roof. Time flew by way too fast RJ, we’ll catch up at the next one!

We also had a fair number of Quebec representatives who were all killing it. Here’s just a couple: @paultougas with his Black and Grey, @guillaumegustattoo and his out-of-this world Japanese tattooing, @piewchoquette brought some killer swag and Dan @p3tattoos and the crew from @tatouageurbain were putting out top-notch classic tattooing right there. Where were you @fdorseytattoos_tl ? :P

Let me tell you, the energy was off the charts and everyone was having a good time. The traditional drum beats from Arashido Taiko Drummers were there to enlighten our evening along with the Hong Luck Kung Fu Lion dancers. Crazy cool! There were countless faces we recognized (...and even more we couldn’t put a name to - it’s been awhile - whoops) We did manage to get a few pics along the way!

We also had a chance to catch up on “the official channel’’ with friends and new acquaintances during the show. You can see the videos here or on YouTube

I could go on rambling for a looong time, but to keep it simple - THANK YOU once more, Dan and Milena and the NIX team for a formidable show, it was stellar!

It goes without saying that we thank YOU for coming by the Eikon Booth to say hey. Hope to see you all again at our next stop - Winnipeg Tattoo Convention in August.