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Bad Luck Tattoo Collective is Just Getting Started
What do you get when three close friends who met at The Sanctuary Tattoo Studio open up their own parlor? A bunch of ‘Bad Luck.’
On the contrary, Frankie Palomino, Dylan Phillips and Gavin Dukowitz, owners of Bad Luck Tattoo Collective, located at 5807 Monroe St. in Sylvania, have only had good luck since opening the collective in early July.
“We’ve had a nice influx of clients that we’ve had over the last couple years, some regulars. We’ve had friends showing up just to hang out and see the place and give their congratulations. It’s been nothing but positivity,” Phillips said.
Creating bad luck
While working at The Sanctuary, the three artists became close friends. Their stations were in a triangle in the main room, allowing them to create this trio. In late January, due to a situation at The Sanctuary, the three came together and decided to open up their own studio.
“Ultimately it was a good business decision for the three of us. Frankie had been there for the better part of eight years, I had been there for five, Gavin for four and an opportunity came by for us to level ourselves up and improve our financial situation. If there was ever a group of two to do this with, it’d be these two,” Phillips said.
The name Bad Luck comes from a saying Palomino first heard as a tattoo apprentice in California.
“I’m originally from California and I worked at a shop out there and somebody told me once that it’s a classic tattoo moniker. If you wear or have bad luck on you, once bad luck comes, it’ll go through you because you already have it,” Palomino said. “Ever since I heard that, I was like, ‘that’s so cool.’ I have it tattooed on my knuckles and when we were still at the sanctuary, Dylan drew a caricature of all of us and he put Bad Luck Tattoo. When all this finally came into fruition, it was a no-brainer.”
The term ‘collective’ took a little more thinking, but encompasses exactly what the trio works towards.
“We landed on collective, so right there in the name, you’d know that we were all in this together and no one is seated higher than anyone else. We’re all standing shoulder to shoulder as a collective,” Phillips said.
When they first received the all clear to open up the shop, the amount of support they received was more than they could imagine.
“We posted [our opening announcement] and, of course, it’s one of those things where you keep like refreshing it,” Palomino said. “We had to immediately drive back to Bowling Green and in the 25-minute car ride, we would see the amount of people liking it or sharing it or individually messaging us and congratulating us and it was such an amazing response.”
Loyal clients and friends commented and messaged the group that they always saw this coming.
“It had 30 to 50 comments of people saying, ‘We’re so proud of you guys.’ ‘We can’t believe that you guys finally did it.’ ‘We always knew this was gonna be the outcome,’” Dukowitz said.
The opening and beyond
Since opening on July 7, the crew has seen an influx of support, new clients and returning clients.
As just recently opening, the artists at Bad Luck want to become a part of the community, as Phillips says, “a rising tide lifts all ships.”
“We’d like to become at least a part of the Sylvania-Toledo community. Not just with the community of people in the area, but also with other artists in the area. We’ve already made connections with other shops,” Phillips said.
Outside of the tattoo community, the trio also wants to use their space to host events to help the entire community.
“Our plans are in the future to have art nights and we’d like to do events to raise money for important groups to the community. [We want to] do some good and have some fun while we do it,” Phillips said.
As of right now, Bad Luck will consist of these three artists, but they do have room to host tattoo artists from outside the Toledo area.
“Our space is perfect for what we need. We do have one spot for guest artists. We have a lot of tattoo friends that are in Columbus or the Detroit area that we want to have a reserved space for when they want to come in. Definitely down the line, there’s room to grow,” Palomino said.
With ‘rough’ hours Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 8 pm, the crew recommends reaching out through their personal Instagrams, although walk-ins are welcome.
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Frankie Palomino – @palomin0
While growing up, Palomino would find himself drawing his favorite cartoon characters often. When he was around 20, he decided to go into tattooing.
“I was 20-ish, and once I realized I wanted to [tattoo], I immediately fell in love with the idea of it,” Palomino said.
Palomino, originally from California, moved to Bowling Green as his girlfriend was getting her PhD at Bowling Green State University (BGSU). After not receiving any opportunities to tattoo in California, that all changed when he found himself in Ohio.
“In California, I wanted [an opportunity] for so long… and nothing was happening. When I moved to Bowling Green, within two weeks, I had an apprenticeship already [at The Sanctuary],” Palomino said. “I’m grateful for how it happened, where it happened and, most importantly, that I’m able to do this now. I love my job. I love being able to do this and I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
Today, Palomino specializes in blackwork and traditional.
“It’s a mix between blackwork and traditional. I like doing fine line stuff, just to switch things up and stay on top of being able to do styles that people ask for and not necessarily what I want to do all the time,” Palomino said. “My main mantra, as with tattoos, is, as long as I know that I can do a good job, I’ll do it, but if I know somebody else can do it better, I would be more than happy to pass you along to them; that way we’re both happy.”
Dylan Phillips – @dylanjamestattooer
Phillips grew up surrounded by artists and has even had the pleasure of tattooing those who first inspired him.
“Growing up, art was very present in my life. My grandmother is an artist, my father was an artist and my mom had cool tattoos when I was a kid. She still does and I’ve been fortunate enough to tattoo her since then,” Phillips said.
Originally from Canton, Phillips moved to Bowling Green in 2015 to get his degree in education from BGSU.
“I stayed in school for a long time. I have my undergrad degree; I went for half of my master’s program; until I finally got up the nerve to ask for an apprenticeship,” Phillips said. “I had been getting tattooed by everybody The Sanctuary hired and it was like a second home, so it seemed like a natural transition. It has been the biggest blessing of my life. I can’t imagine doing anything else at this point.”
Today, Phillips does a little bit of everything: color and black and gray styles.
“I like to do more color, American traditional, but I also do a little bit of black and gray illustrative. I’m starting to dip my toes into color realism, pseudo-color realism. The fewer people you can say no to, the better, so the more styles you know, the better,” Phillips said. “Happy to find the right person for you if I’m not the right person, but I’m going to do everything in my power to be the right person for you.”
Gavin Dukowitz – @g_duky
While in high school, Dukowitz’s sister was his art teacher. Because he didn’t want to be in her “shadow,” he started making art using different mediums.
“My sister was actually my art teacher in high school. I didn’t want to be in her shadow. So I tried to do art a different way, so I did a lot more woodworking, welding, sculpting, ceramics, stuff like that,” Dukowitz said.
From Indian Lake, a small town in Ohio, Dukowitz moved to Bowling Green in 2020 for a degree in architecture.
“I came to BGSU for my undergrad in architecture in 2020 and I absolutely hated it. Frankie actually asked me to tattoo him and I told him he was ‘absolutely crazy.’ I had never touched a tattoo machine before but he set the stuff up and he had me tattoo him… I immediately fell in love with it,” Dukowitz said. “Eventually the conversation was ‘I hang out here every day. I’ve spent all my money on tattoos here, so I would still like to get tattooed, but I would also like to make some money by tattooing.’ [The owner of The Sanctuary’s] last words to me were ‘find a friend dumb enough to get tattooed by you now.’ So the day before I turned 20, I started my apprenticeship.”
Today, Dukowitz specializes in black and grey tattoos due to being colorblind himself.
“I do just black and gray stuff. I’m actually color blind, so I don’t do a lot of color stuff. The times I have done it, it’s really fun, it just hurts my brain a little bit too much,” Dukowitz said. “So I do stylized, traditional, realism, a lot of pointillism stuff, a lot of dot work. I don’t like to say no to a lot of things, but if there are things that I don’t feel super confident in, I will point the client in the right direction.”
For more information on Bad Luck Tattoo Collective, go to their Instagram page at badlucktattoocollective.
