Eikon Convention Packs | A Peek Inside Their History

Over the past 20 years we’ve built, shipped, and handed out nearly 30,000 convention packs, each designed to provide all the supplies you'd need to set-up for, and tear-down, 6 tattoos… I guess you could say Eikon packs have played a small role in the creation of over 175,000 tattoos! So if you’ve worked a Canadian show with us any time over those 20+ years, there’s a good chance you’ve dipped into an Eikon Convention Pack to help get you through a long weekend on the convention floor.
Believe it or not, there was a time when these often imitated, never duplicated, convention packs didn't exist. What did artists do then?

A Look Back | The History of Eikon Convention Packs
Eikon convention packs made their first appearance in 2001/02 at the 2nd (maybe 3rd) NIX Convention in Toronto. The timing was perfect - shows were beginning to get larger, with artists traveling across Canada, in from the USA and beyond, with no room in their suitcases for tattoo supplies. We’d (Eikon) just made the jump from making tattoo needles, to also offering disposable supplies. It was a win/win! Artists needed these supplies to work, and we needed a way to get them into artists’ hands for some real-world testing, and the Eikon convention pack was born.

Although we can’t claim they was the first (though they might have been, the memory gets hazy after 20+ years), what made Eikon convention packs different was that, with the help of artists and organizers, we broke down the tattooing process as whole to ensure that the packs provided artists with everything they (and the Health Department) needed to set-up for, and tear down, 6 tattoos.
With the concept fleshed out, it was all hands on deck for the gruelling task of breaking down and sorting all the supplies, and repackaging them in the convention packs in such a way that artists didn't have to dig around looking for what they needed. Then came the best part - actually walking the convention floor, personally handing out convention packs to each artist working the show and getting to shoot the shit with them. It was a task that we’ll admit was much easier when shows had only 50-150 artists and not the 500-800 artists we see today.

Today's Eikon Convention Packs...
Although the contents of our convention packs have changed (nipples & grommets anyone?) their main purpose hasn't - Make it easy for artists to do 6 tattoos, from set-up to tear-down, without having to bring their entire shop along with them...

What You’ll Find Inside...
Our 2025 convention packs come loaded with our new Eikon Essentials WRAP, RAZORS and BIBS and DRAPE SHEETS, as well as Canadian branded products from Medline Canada, and a “Made In Canada” Glide from CURE. We also continue to work with artists and show organizers to find ways to make our packs more environmentally friendly by reducing waste and using less plastic in the packaging.
Trying to make a convention pack to fit every artist’s needs is no easy task, all we can hope for is that the next time you're at a convention and see an Eikon Convention pack on your table, you’ll breathe a little sigh of relief knowing that we’ve got you!
