Meet Katie Harkins | Tattooer & Tattoo Shop Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Harkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
Time management. Pragmatism. Priority based strategy. Having managers/bosses in the past that encouraged me to build my own jobs within organizations before I actually built my own job for myself on my own made it seem perfectly natural when the pandemic rolled around and creating my tattoo business for myself became my only safe choice.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m Katie Beth, …aka the one-woman rodeo…”Southpaw Kate” I’m “Quick on the draw”…and my spot is the sweetest little tattoo shop in the West!

I’ve dreamed of tattooing since I was an 80s kid and have been doing tidy tattoos and delightful designs for earthbound extraterrestrials in Seattle since 2016. I’m thrilled to be part of such a hard-working, competitive and thriving tattoo scene.

Life has whittled me into an excellent listener, creative daydreamer, empathic practitioner and lover of weirdos & eccentricities. I like to think I apply these skills in every tattoo. I’m fastidious and obsessive about my work and I truly believe in a tattoo’s ability to transform, heal, and empower.

I enjoy making tattoos from existing imagery as well as drawing something custom for my clients. My artistic foundations are in illustration and graphic design, and I’m very happy to tattoo most things vintage, botanical, ornamental, pop culture, traditional, neo-traditional and characters/animals.

I absolutely love the lifelong learning inherent to tattooing. I feel beyond grateful to have taken a terrifying career leap of faith in my mid-thirties, landing in such a fertile, wonderful community as tattooing with infinite lessons taking root.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am a total homebody but we could definitely explore West Seattle, White Center and Burien together and I’d be happy. I am obsessed with Can Bar in White Center for drinks or food, their patio is everything. Also, obviously roller skating at Southgate always. For dive bar realness, the Poggie or Corner Pocket in the West Seattle Junction, and for record shopping, Easy Street Records or the Antique Mall of course. And for a cute little drink after your tattoo, my neighbor Larry’s Tavern is the absolute best, has freakin’ Skee-Ball, pinball and a pool table to top it off. Oh, and boozy slurpees. Lately I am most into the outdoors and my dog though, so Schmitz Park, Camp Long, Mee Kwa Mooks Park, or a quick ferry ride to Vashon would be just the best.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I could honestly thank so many people but I’d say my family, first and foremost, my mom, stepdad and my grandparents (who I am so fortunate to be so close with and are still with us today). So many teachers and coaches over the decades, too many that made a profound impact to individually name. And finally Woods and all my tattoo mentors at Blue Geisha for taking a chance on a 30-something desperate for a fresh start in a creative, service oriented field.

Website: southpawkate.com / thetattyshack.com

Instagram: @southpawkate