 |
...that Boston lawyer Dave Kimelberg just released a coffee-table book about heavily tattooed professionals?
Not only that, but he's featured in his book, called "Inked Inc.," too. "I'm a corporate lawyer," says Kimelberg, 37, "but I also have some pretty extensive tattoo work that I'd kept hidden and nobody really knew about."
"Extensive" is a good word for it. He has "sleeves" (below) that start at the top of his shoulders and extend to his mid-forearm. "So by design I can even roll up my actual sleeves without showing my tattoos," he said.
Kimelberg knew there had to be other tattooed professionals out there, so he posted a query on craigslist and started a website. Tattoo culture blogs shared the website, and "the floodgates opened up," he said.
Kimelberg has always been a photographer, and he took pictures (and wrote profiles) of 15 professionals for the book, both dressed for work and dressed to show off the tats. There's a doctor, lawyers, and engineers. Many are from the Boston area. All are well-educated.
Kimelberg hopes the book will help allay the stigma attached to tattoos in the professional workplace. "The most interesting person I contacted through this project," he said, "was a guy I met in New York City who is a partner in one of the biggest Wall Street law firms. He has a body suit, tattoos from his neck to his wrists and his ankles. . . . I desperately wanted him to be in the book, and he really struggled with it but finally said, 'I just can't.' "
Kimelberg said his own tattoos started as an act of rebellion and evolved into an appreciation of the art. "I work in a very conservative environment [he didn't want to say where], and the tattoos are a kind of a statement to myself that I haven't completely sold out."
"Inked Inc." (Inked Inc. Press) is available at amazon.com for $19.95.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
