STUNNING designs saw Salvation Tattoo Studio in Knutsford celebrate a record-breaking 24 awards at an international convention.

An eight-strong team from the studio won the haul at the 11th Annual Minneapolis Tattoo Arts Convention in Minnesota in the USA.

The three-day event was hosted by Villain Arts at the Hyatt Regency hotel, and saw the Knutsford team compete against more than 700 of the best tattoo artists in the world.

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Anastasiya Bortnik

The team was made up of Roman Grazhdantsev, Nelson Sacramento, Teo Papadopoulus, Max Adamek, Peter Raduly, Seb Jablonski, Anastasiya Bortnik and Minda Liskauskas.

Studio manager Gemma Pepper said: “Our Pro Team had a fantastic weekend in Minneapolis, winning a record-breaking total of 24 awards competing against the best of the best.

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Nelson Sacramento

“We couldn’t be prouder of the artists, the team and of our customers, whose continued support and the team’s hard work allows Salvation Tattoo Studio to achieve such great things.”

The designs which won the team awards at Minneapolis included portraits of a Native American, a bobcat, Medusa, The Joker and Travis Fimmel as Viking warrior Ragnar Lothbrok in the TV series Vikings.

A tiger featured in an award-winning ‘sleeve’ tattoo which took Max Adamek 27 hours to complete.

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Max Adamek

Gemma added: “The award-winning neo trad Medusa-inspired tattoo by Nelson was sensational, and Roman won first place in the category Best of Day Colour with his beautiful bobcat portrait.

“Teo won an award in Tattoo of the Day with his stunning Native American tattoo, and Ana’s Joker tattoo was incredible; it’s no wonder it won awards.”

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Roman Grazhdantsev

Customers are booked in before attending the convention; they pay the same price as if they were being tattooed in the UK.

All the customers live in the US and are assigned to an artist depending on the style of tattoo they would like.

The design is done on the morning of each day of the show. The artist works with the customer’s ideas to design them a tattoo they are both happy with.

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Teo Papadopoulus

This is entered into a number of categories and judged by the industry’s leading professionals and world-renowned artists.

Gemma added: “At Salvation Tattoos our pledge is to realise the customer’s vision and turn it into the best possible tattoo achievable. All our artists have backgrounds in fine art and illustration.

“We’ve well and truly started 2020 with a big bang, and the next stop for us is the fifth Cleveland Tattoo Arts Convention in the USA next month.”

Some of the award-winning tattoos

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