Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins was a prominent American tattoo artist who developed tattoo innovations and opened his own shop in Honolulu. He was known for his sanitation protocol, humor, and detailed designs. His legacy continues through Sailor Jerry Limited, which owns the licenses to his original artwork.
Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins was a prominent American tattoo artist, who many people consider to be the father of modern tattooing. During his lifetime, he developed a number of tattoo innovations that continue to be used to this day, and several prominent American tattoo artists can trace the lineage of their training back to Sailor Jerry. His life also continues in the form of Sailor Jerry Limited, a company that owns the licenses to Collins’ original artwork.
Norman Collins first set sail in 1930, when he was 19 years old. Like many sailors, Collins was introduced to the art of tattooing in Asia, where sailors traditionally got tattoos to celebrate their travels and adventures on the high seas. Sailor Jerry took a particular interest in tattooing, learning the ropes and eventually opening his own shop in Honolulu, although he continued to correspond with prominent Asian tattoo artists throughout his life. He did business in Chinatown, like every other tattoo artist on Oahu, because that was the only region where tattooing was allowed.
Once Sailor Jerry opened her shop, she set about perfecting the art of tattooing, creating a wide variety of pigments and improving the safety and quality of tattoo work. He is widely credited as one of the first tattoo artists to have a sanitation protocol for his shop that included fresh needles and clean tools, and he developed a range of safer pigments. Sailor Jerry’s work was designed to last, with existing tattoos on living individuals still looking good after years of wear.
The walls of his shop were covered in his flash tattoo designs developed for quick and easy tattooing. He was known to have a sense of humor and his work often featured humorous figures and humorous themes, often captioned in his characteristic all-caps handwriting. His work often featured themes of interest to sailors such as buxom women, symbols associated with military service, historic ships, and so on, and he was renowned for its detail and quality of him.
Sailor Jerry never swallowed the anchor whole, often taking time out to travel, and her tattoo work became so well known that she started adding “The Original” to her business cards and advertising materials, so people knew who they were dealing with. Upon his death in 1973, control of his estate passed to Ed Hardy and Mike Malone, two former students both known for their skill at “old school” tattoos such as Sailor Jerry’s.
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