Empress Tattoo, opened its doors in 2019 and serving Airdrie and the greater Calgary area for all of its tattoo needs. Empress was started by Kailey Jacob, and her husband Taggart. Empress initially started as a studio for Kailey to work out of solo with some backend support from Taggart. Kailey had been tattooing for 5 years already at this point and had gathered a solid client base, to whom we are eternally grateful.
Starting in 2022 Taggart joined the Empress Tattoo team full time which meant expanding operations and bringing in a few more artists. At this time Kailey and Taggart agreed that the best shops were the ones who treated their artists right, let them be their own boss while having a great communal atmosphere to share and explore new ideas together. This is why our tattoo studio does not have set hours. Each artist is given the freedom to work whatever days, and times they feel suit them and their clientele best.
Starting in March of 2022, Alonso Blades (@blades_ink) joined the team. Alonso had been a long time friend who was looking for exactly what Empress was offering. A private space in which he could do beautiful tattoos and have the freedom to work as he pleases.
Starting in 2022 Kailey took on Luke Dann, Taggarts lifelong friend as an apprentice. Luke worked his tail off for majority of the year before picking up a machine for the first time in January of 2023. With Kaileys guidance Luke has evolved and honed his skills, building his client base and his portfolio ever since.
In early 2024 it was becoming more and more obvious that if Empress was to continue to grow and prosper as one of Airdrie's top tattoo studios, we were in need of a larger space. In May of 2024 we took possession of our current location at 2145 Summerfield Blvd SE in Airdrie. Renovations took a few months with Taggart doing all the work along with who would soon become our 4th and final artist in the studio, Ty Howard. Ty was a another long time friend, whom Kailey worked with previously.
Opening in late July 2024, our new location offers private rooms for each artist. Each room is personalized to the personality and style of the artist who works in it. We wanted a space where everyone could have privacy when needed, but be part of a art collective when wanted!
