Reykjavík Grapevine - 26.08.2016, Side 40

Music 40The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 13 — 2016
Austurstræti 16 Tel. 551 0011 apotek.isAPOTEK KITCHEN+BAR
ICELANDIC
GOURMET
MENU
Freshly caught seafood and free range lamb
– with a modern twist
6 COURSE
DINNER MENU
STARTS WITH A “REFRESHING“ SHOT
OF THE NATIONAL SNAPS BRENNIVÍN
FOLLOWED BY A BITE-SIZED TASTE OF PUFFIN
OCEAN PERCH
Slow cooked ocean perch, beetroot purée, spicy
butter, serrano ham, beetroot
MINKE WHALE
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SEA TROUT
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PLAICE
Samphire, green asparagus, blood orange, lime beurre blanc
RACK OF FREE RANGE ICELANDIC LAMB
Lamb fillet, leeks, pickled onions, browned celeriac, baked
carrots, spinach and dill cream
Dessert
SKYR FANTASIA
Skyr fromage, Skyr mousse, strawberry & lime gel,
lime sponge cake
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Festval
Boff Konkerz did his first tattoo
on the most tattooed man in the
world, Lucky Diamond Rich. “By
a series of random events I ended
up sharing a room with him and
a tattooist in London and they
showed me how to do one.” He
laughs while telling me the story.
“It’s far out really. It was twelve
years ago so we didn’t even take
a picture of it. We just did it one
night and said, ‘Hm, that’s good.’”
Machine-Free
Tattooing
Boff is energetic, talkative and lik-
able. As we start to chat, I instant-
ly feel comfortable around him—a
welcome feeling considering that
I’m lying on his table about to get
inked. Konkerz isn’t your average
tattooer, though. No, instead of
using a tattoo machine—which
vibrates up and down, press-
ing the ink via needles into your
skin—Boff practices what he calls,
“Machine-Free Tattooing.” Using
a special handmade tool of wood,
tape, and needles, Boff hand taps
each individual dot into a client
himself. “Most laymen wouldn’t
be able to tell the difference,” he
tells me, “but to someone who re-
ally knows tattoos it’s everything.”
I decide to get a piece on my
ribs. Boff is a little hesitant—rib
tattoos hurt like hell—but he re-
luctantly allows it after I show
him my other tattoos. Konkerz
works in the Íslenska Húðflúrsto-
fan shop and specializes in Icelan-
dic tattoos. “Vegvísir. Vegvísirs
undeniably,” he answers when I
ask him what his most popular re-
quest is. A vegvísir is an Icelandic
stave that represents a compass—
you might have seen it on Björk’s
arm. He laughs. “I’ve done mul-
tiple ones today actually.”
Wanting to give him a little
vegvísir-breather, I decide on a
runic wheel of luck. Boff quick-
ly puts the stencil on, waits for
my approval, and then begins. I
don’t know what I was expecting,
but right off the bat I notice that
machine-free tattooing is sig-
nificantly less painful than the
traditional method. While I com-
monly compare getting a tattoo by
a machine to a feeling in between
a drill and a bee-sting, this feels
like a bunch of fast jolts. It is ex-
traordinarily less intense.
Punk Rock Tattooing
As we continue with the stave,
Boff regals me with tales of his
life. Originally, he tells me, he
saw tattooing only as a hobby:
“Yeah, I was doing them in a very
punk-rock style on friends and ac-
quaintances, but over the years I
got really good at it.” He was then
offered a job in a studio, which he
took and later quit. “It was kind of
like a 9 to 5 there, you know?” He
smiles. “It wasn’t for me.” After
that, he began traveling the world,
doing guest spots everywhere
from Denmark to America.
That’s how he ended up in Ice-
land. “[Traveling] gets tiring,” he
says. “You just think, ‘fuck this,’
and my girlfriend is from here and
I like it here so we moved here and
everything has been going great.”
“So I think by virtue of us both be-
ing here,” he tells me, “Iceland prob-
ably has the most amount of profes-
sional hand-poked tattooists per
head population in the world.” He
laughs. He’s probably right.
We finally finish the tattoo and
I look in the mirror. The wheel of
luck is delicate and beautiful. I’m
instantly in love. For my next tat-
too, I’m hoping to get a large co-
lour portrait—maybe Boff would
be interested in picking up a ma-
chine? He raises his eyebrows as
he tapes my piece in cellophane.
“Nope. Never.”
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Boff Konkerz at Íslenska Húðflúrstofan
Machine-Free Tattooing
Words HANNAH JANE COHEN Photo ART BICNICK