About us
Tattoo & Piercing Studio «Zagreb» is located in Zagreb, in Tresnjevka,
in Tratinska street number 28. You can reach us by taking tram number 12, 9 and 3
going towards the Tresnjevka market, or number 13, 14 and 17 going to Cibona
tower, and then walking towards Tresnjevka market.
Salons working hours are Mon – Sat from 09 - 20 PM.
The reception area of the salon consists of the entrance stairway with
storefronts with jewelry and photographs of our works; of a waiting area with about
20 seats, with information counter containing some 60 catalogues and over 300 specialized
books with tattoo motives. Behind the info counter there is a drawing space, with
the archive of magazines specialized in tattooing and piercing, equipped with photocopier,
fax and computer.
We have four separate rooms for tattooing and piercing of the total
capacity of 5 clients minimum at the same time. Two of the working rooms are currently
air-conditioned.
All working areas are equipped with two component monolithic floors or tiles that
are disinfected daily; also with non-porous furniture which is disinfected before
and after each client, and special anti-microbe UV lamps. We also have toilet and
washroom facilities as well as the separate room for sterilization equipped with
ultrasound cleaner with disinfectant bath, separate washroom facilities for rinsing
the instruments before sterilization, the equipment for welding the sterilization
packs and Autoklav sterilizer which is frequently tested.
Employees
Our salon’s team is dedicated to constant improvement of its expert
and artistic capabilities. All employees are trained for correct usage of disinfectants,
preparation of materials and instruments for sterilization, sterilization control
and appropriate handling of sterile utensils. Aiming to protect the health of our
clients, our employees and also to protect the respectability of our salon, we continuously
purchase materials, equipment and professional literature, and we use them all knowingly.
We are also participating in the world’s network of exchanging information between
our colleagues and health workers, whether it is through personal contacts or through
organizations dedicated to the improvement of the quality and safety in the working
methods and equipment.
Supporting the soundness of our methods is the fact that they were
approved by the team of doctors with whom we have consulted regarding the safety
procedures, and also numerous doctors, nurses and other health department associates
who were our clients or were accompanying our clients. We are also regularly being
controlled by the Croatian National Institute for Public Health and the Sanitary
Inspection. Each of our clients can see the entire preparation of the working area
and working table, the unpacking of the sterile utensils, the complete work process,
the dismantling and disposal of the used equipment and the disinfection of the furniture
and work surfaces.
So much about safety, and as regards the quality and the artistic value
of our work, the picture speaks more then words. In the photo gallery of designs
or in catalogues in our salon you can browse for something that you like, or you
can come to us with an idea of your own. All tattoo masters who are working with
us are also quality drawers, skillful with all tattoo styles, and they would be
happy to help you with a drawing or an advice. The proof of our successful work
is in the respect of our colleagues from all around the world and many awards we
have won on the competitions that were part of international conventions of tattoo
masters.
ANA JUKIĆ ZELENOVIĆ
Upon completion of Musical High School and Chemical-Tehnical School,
Ana undergoes the training in blood transmitted diseases, the sterilization training
and the training for administrative work, in Tattoo Studio ZAGREB under
the supervision of Ninoslav Zelenović as a mentor. At the same time she
graduates from the Commercial School at the Open University, and starts managing
the administrative work, purchasing work and internal sanitary inspector work in
Tattoo Studio ZAGREB, and she still does all of those activities even today.
After we took over the exclusive distribution of The Wildcat collection for Croatia,
and for ex-Yu Countries (former Yugoslavia countries), Ana takes over the supervision
of all activities connected with the Croatian branch of that firm.
NINOSLAV ZELENOVIĆ aka ZELE
After demobilization from the active non-commissioned servise in the
Croatian Army during the Croatian War of Independence, Ninoslav undergoes the training
in the protection from blood transmitted diseases, the sterilization training and
the training for administrative work, in Tattoo Studio ZAGREB under the
supervision of Ivana Švalj, the owner of the salon at the time. Late 1993
Ninoslav starts working as a tattooist and also on the sterilization. In 1995, during
a tattoo convention in Amsterdam, he undergoes the training for the jewelry application,
under the mentor Denis Dikke, in Amsterdam, in the Tattoo Studio SKIN DEEP
and also the additional training for tattooing under the mentor Jana Huis in
Tattoo Studio ALMERE (ex-mentor of Ivana Švalj). . After that he participates
on numerous international conventions, seminars and congresses on tattooing and
body piercing as a drawer, lecturer and a member of the jury. This results in numerous
awards, recognitions, published works and interviews in foreign tattoo magazines
and books, and also in fast advancement among the elite of the international tattoo
scene.
Together with tattooing and jewelry application, Ninoslav is the author of numerous
design kits for tattooing, several models of carved frames of tattooing machines,
the Ethic and Hygiene Manual of the Croatian Association of Tattooists (this Association
is unfortunately not active) and the jewelry applicants, as well as the complete
texts of this and previous web pages. Through direct crafts training of his apprentices,
through lectures and internal debates on the local and international scene, Ninoslav
forms a line of recognized master tattooists and jewelry applicants, and influences
the course of the development of many other colleagues from younger generation,
both in practice and theory.
Equipment
The tattooing equipment and jewelry application can be divided into
three main categories:
- Spare materials and supplies for single use only
- Instruments that are sterilized
- Equipment that is isolated by non-porous PVC foil
Spare materials and supplies for single use are colors and color dosers,
gloves, protective cover for the working plate, needles, razors and other materials
for skin preparation and skin disinfection, and materials for isolating the furniture
and equipment that are impossible to sterilize. These materials are used only once,
and then discarded immediately, with the exception of the needles that are disposed
in special containers for dangerous waste, and then destroyed according to the regulations,
by the company authorized for such activities.
Instruments that are sterilized are tubes of the tattoo needle slides, different
grippers and clamps and tools for applying the jewelry. They are decontaminated
between two usages in the ultrasound cleaner with disinfectant bath, and then they
are mechanically cleaned and rinsed, packed and sealed in the sterilizing bags.
After this procedure they are properly sterilized in the Autoklav sterilisator.
The equipment that cannot be sterilized as they contain plastics and isolation materials,
and they have to be touched during the tattooing are cover up, or wrapped in PVC
bags or PVC foil. This method serves for preventing contamination and transmittal
of diseases through the operating part of the tattooing machine, contact wire and
parts of the furniture that come into the contact with the client during tattooing
or during jewelry application.
Materials
Colors that we use for tattooing are always controlled, the most quality
ones and the safest on the market. These colors do not cause allergies, and are
strong and permanent. They are based mostly on stabile oxides of non-poisonous metals,
or on pure carbon. The black is pure carbon derived from the grime (by burning the
clammy wood, bones etc). The blue and the green are copper based (copper pthalocyanine
dye), the violet and the purple are based on the dioxazine carbazole purple. The
yellow is based on arylid. The red is naphtol red. The brown is from the iron oxide,
and the white is derived from zink or titan.
The above mentioned colors have been authorized for usage in any type
of cosmetics, including permanent make up, and most them have been authorized by
FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) for coloring food, contact lenses, surgical
implants and children’s furniture, as they are finished products of the chemical
reaction – oxidation, and as such are stabile and non-active. Once they are inserted
under skin they stop changing. The powdery part of the color stays, during tattooing,
in the upper layers of the unchangeable part of the skin under epidermis, becoming
thus the indelible integral part of your pigmentation, while the fluid in which
the color was diluted extracts itself from the body in a normal way. Both components
are proven to be harmless, which has been confirmed by their usage throughout many
decades, and also by their testing done by may different world health organizations
and institutions, among others by our Institute for medicine of work.
Some irresponsible companies, in order to make the production less
expensive, use cheaper, unsafe, toxic, or allergen color parts, and the solution
as well, like cobalt, mercury, ethylene glycol, formaldehyde end similar. Such colors
cause allergic reactions in some people (redness usually) which are the treated
by surgical removal of the color from the skin.
As any other responsible masters, we avoid such unsafe colors and companies
that produce them. We stick with proven companies that have strong quality control
teams, and that will not risk their reputation and tradition for some profit. Fortunately,
in the EU and USA, in collaboration with respectable color producers and tattoo
masters, a Commission was formed that started preliminary research aiming to set
production standards and better supervision over products, that would disable a
public sale of dangerous colors and substances in European and American market.
The jewelry we apply and sell is exclusively of the British production,
and as such is the subject of the thorough control as well as subject to finishing
standards and material quality, in accordance with the EU regulation on materials
that are to be permanently built in the human body. It is highly polished jewelry
with no scratches, sharp edges or locks that could irritate or collect bacteria.
Forms and dimensions, as well as fixing systems of this jewelry are ergonomically
adapted to body parts for which they are provided. The jewelry is designed primarily
in a way to cause as little discomfort, troubling and irritation as possible, which
results in relatively small range of basic shapes. There is a lot of jewelry on
the market with silver accessories in different shapes, like spider, dolphin, stars
and similar, but that jewelry, mostly of Asian origin of suspicious material quality
and finishing, as well as with its uneven shapes, does not allow uniform cleansing
and disinfection, causes discomfort, and itching, gets in a way with the clothes,
causing thus many complications and injuries during the healing period, hence we
do not have it for sale, and we refuse to put it on our clients.
Materials that can be inserted into human body are surgical steel of
implant gradation, titanium of implant gradation, tempered led free glass, polished
bonze, and some types of silicon, plastic and acrylic, which are suitable and chosen
for medical implantation.
For inserting in widened holes we use numerous and specially treated
natural materials like certain types of stones, amber, bones, horns and no porous
non toxic wood. Gold and silver are seldom used due to their sensitivity on damaging
and due to the fact that
If you’d like to know more about materials:
- Implant steels
The 300 series is the most resistant to corrosion, and is therefore popular for
usage for medical implants as well as for piercing jewelry. For implanting in the
human body only three types are suitable: implant steel of the composition D, surgical
steel 316L and surgical steel 316LVM. Although all of these gradations contain nickel
they do not release nickel salts into the body nor do they cause contact dermatitis.
The release of the nickel from the jewelry made of this material was measured under
0,01ug/cm2 per week and by criteria from the annex of the EU Directive on nickel
emission it can be worn for unlimited amount of time. These steels are also used
for screws, plates, parts and fixes for bones, mandibular wire nets and many wrist
braces. The jewelry is electroplated. As a result of this plating we have the jewelry
with no scratches and pores that can collect bacteria.
On the market, there is a whole lot of bad and dangerous jewelry of Asian origin.
It is mostly 303 steel, full of sulphur (brimstone) that was added for easier and
cheaper final finishing that, according to some research studies, causes allergic
reactions with around 14% of people, and is therefore banned in the European Union.
Unfortunately, there is no such a regulation and legal protection in Croatia, therefore,
the safest way is to buy the jewelry in the professional piercing studio, as true
professionals with experience won’t poison you with Korean discarded steel for marginal
savings.
You could not expect such a concern for your health from the street vendors or from
jewelry stores, as they tend to, as a result of their lack of knowledge, import
cheap Asian jewelry that looks the same as the high quality jewelry. As we cannot
know for sure the origin and the characteristics of the jewelry bought somewhere
else, we shall not take any risks and implant it in your body.
- Implant titanium
Jewelry made from implant titanium has half the weight of normal steel and can come
in colors. That color is not an ordinary color, but is obtained with electrolytic
oxidation of metal surface. We use exclusively surgical titanium of gradation 23
(Ti6AL4VELI), gradation acknowledged by all worldly recognized institutions for
medical usage, including the international organization for standards in Switzerland
and ASTM in the USA. The quality proof of this material is the fact that from it
they produce bone braces, hearth braces and pacemakers. ASTM awarded this metal
a prefix F (F136) with the approval of FDA (Food and drugs administration) for implantation
into human body.
Jewelry from this type of titanium is highly polished and anodized in different
colors for its better biocompatibility. The passive oxide of the surface is nearly
three times thicker than on the other types of titanium, so it does not cause any
discoloration of surrounding tissues and it has been approved by the EU directive
on nickel emission for usage in fresh piercing for an unlimited amount of time.
That decision was verified by APP (Association of professional piercers).
We must stress again that many people sell inappropriate jewelry from “commercially
pure titanium” of gradation 1 that has been proven to cause discoloration of the
surrounding tissues. It means that for the rest of your life you shall have gray
mark around the hole, even when you take out the jewelry. The cause of such an effect
is low abrasive resistance of this non-alloy material.
Do not buy matte titanium jewelry that is badly polished and has rough texture surface
as it can cause serious health problems. Do not buy jewelry on your own, as there
is a high chance that no quality piercers shall put it on you afterwards, because
of its dimensions, material or design unsuited for the area you would like it to
be in. Street vendors and jewelry stores seldom give you your money back.
We and our colleagues provide you with the jewelry that is “your size” , and suited
for your own anatomy.
- Black and golden-yellow titanium
Titanium finishing by PVD system (physical vapor deposition) is used for applying
a thin layer of plasma nitride or zircon nitride in order to achieve a uniform sleek
surface of black or golden-yellow color. In medicine we use it for finishing touches
of pace makers, surgical instruments and orthopedic implants. All respectable scientific
experts from various independent laboratories and technical institutes (Technische
Universitat Braunschweig, Bundesanstalt fur Materialforschung Berlin, Fraunhofer
Institut fur Schicht und Oberflachentechnik Braunschweig etc) have, with no exception,
confirmed that this finishing is suitable for the usage in medical implants and
piercing jewelry.
Jewelry finished in this way passes rigorous micro-control of the surface and biocompatibility
micro-control in the most advanced European laboratories, which increases its price.
If you have stumbled upon a cheap black jewelry, it is just a copy of the steel,
plated with carbon or just paint. In both cases it is dangerous jewelry that can
cause poisoning and corrosion. For your personal safety buy the jewelry from your
piercer. We take care what do we buy and from whom, and we take care what do we
put under your skin.
- Plastic masses
The new generation of polymers (acrylics) developed for medical usage found its
usage also in the jewelry production. The jewelry we use is made from polymethylmetacrilate
(PMMA) that is also used in production of contact lenses, reconstructive cosmetic
surgery and tools for spine fixations, as it is biologically inert. It is produced
discolored, in sheer and non-sheer colors, or fluorescent. Special polyesters, casein,
PTFE and biocompatible silicon are also used for certain types of jewelry, and the
satisfy the following criteria: European pharmacopoeia, Deutsches arzneibuch, US
Pharmacopoeia plastics class V1. Beware of cheap and usually toxic imitations and
pirate copies from the Far East that are swamping the market. High fines, and even
prison sentences have forced the EU importers to ban such products from their market,
and most of that garbage ended up on the streets and in suspicious piercing shops
in the East European countries that still do not have clear legislation on this
matter.
- High carat gold
14-carat gold marked 584 is suitable for the jewelry with windings, due to its higher
material solidity, and from the 18 carat gold marked 750 rings are made. This jewelry
is suitable for usage in healed piercing, under the condition that they are adjusted
to the form and standards for piercing jewelry, meaning that no nickel has been
added to the alloy. Often, a 9 carat gold marked 375, is sold as falsely declared
14 or even 18 carat gold.
Other precious material such as silver and platinum are not used, unless they are
pendants on the jewelry.
- Brass and bronze
These metals can be used in healed piercing, as well as some natural materials,
like glass, white, green and black jade, precious and semi-precious stones, non-porous
non-poisonous wood, bone, buffalo’s horn, mammoth ivory, amber and many others.
These materials are used by very rare experts in widened holes, so there is really
no point in describing their separate characteristics. It is understood that the
jewelry must be produced in a particular way and that is must satisfy all criteria
needed so that we can wear it in our healed holes.