I like to dress up in a suit when I cover television because I take it seriously and want to show respect for the craft. I couldn’t help but feeling a little square standing before Kat Von D though. At a Discovery Networks party, she was definitely the most lavishly dressed personality, but the tattooed host of L.A. Ink made me feel cool sitting in the corner with her.
Crave Online: Do you think I’m a total square here in my suit?
Kat Von D: No, not at all. No, I’ve learned from years ago not to judge a book by its cover. That’s for sure.
Crave Online: Do you find people do that to you?
Kat Von D: Yeah, that’s something I’m definitely used to since I was a kid so I just kind of don’t pay attention to it anymore really. I think I always just have to look at it as an opportunity to prove somebody wrong.
Crave Online: Is it a tattoo thing, the misconceptions people have about tattoos?
Kat Von D: Well, I think some of the old stigmas are still thinking around but with the popularity of shows like L.A. Ink and all that stuff, more people are becoming open minded to tattooing. They don’t see it as bad. It’s not for hookers anymore. It’s for everybody. I think that sometimes people assume that wow, you’ve marked your body permanently and there’s no turning back. It’s something that scares people I think but for me, it’s a lifestyle.
Crave Online: As if there are other things that don’t mark you permanently.
Kat Von D: Right. I think there’s way more dangerous things that people are doing without even blinking that should be looked at a little more carefully, but nowadays it’s like plastic surgery and other body modifications are not frowned upon so much as tattooes.
Crave Online: Do you ever worry that it’ll become too mainstream?
Kat Von D: I don’t worry about any of that stuff. Tattooing’s the second oldest profession it’s been around before the depression and after and it’ll continue. As far as the popularity goes, that can fade a little bit or not.
Crave Online: How individual can it remain when everyone’s doing it?
Kat Von D: That is the cool thing about tattoos is it’s not like a T-shirt. Even if you get the same tattoo as somebody else, there’s no way to emulate a tattoo exactly the same. One tattoo, that’s it. That’s the only piece that can be made by one person. It’s not like a recipe that you can just redo.
Crave Online: How is the L.A. Ink journey going?
Kat Von D: It’s going well. We just finished filming the last leg of this season. I have a nice break which is good because I’ve been working on my book and a bunch of other stuff. Then we’ll probably start filming again.
Crave Online: You’ve done all these seasons of the TV show and you’re writing a book. What haven’t you shared with us yet?
Kat Von D: This is actually my second book and my first book was an introduction into the tattoo world from an insider’s view. This book is the most profound honest thing I’ve ever made so I’ve been writing about everybody I tattoo right after for the past few years. I’m publishing a year’s worth of journals, tattoo entries of people I’ve tattooed, basically the life lessons I’ve learned from people. So there’s some pretty deep sh** in there, stuff that I haven’t shared yet.
