SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE • 49work is simple and that is I’ve always tried to give the
people what they want. At the end of the day, they pay me
money and I will do my very, very best to please them. I’ve
sometimes worked here all day and all night, gone home
for two hours and then come back again to keep going be-
cause back then, it was pretty crazy around here.
“When I went to Japan, it wasn’t just on a whim. I went
there to learn and what I learned, I brought back with me.
In fact, that’s what gave me the idea of opening up a pri-
vate studio in Charing Cross Road. I wanted to get on a
little bit of a different wavelength.”
I bring Darryl into the stream of things for a moment.
He’s an important part in the story here, not least because
when he took the place over he chose not to take a ham-
mer to it. He came, he saw, he nodded and pretty much de-
cided it was fine just as it was... and that had an effect too:
“When I look at my tattoos, they’re super bright—I
pride myself on how bright they are. I was—and am—all
about the bright lights and energy of Soho. Sitting here
everyday and being around Dennis’s work has subcon-