Big Brain is world famous for quality tattoos. What makes us unique is our artist's. They are among the best in the world.
Philosophy
It is the philosophy of Big Brain Productions and our staff that every client deserves respect, personal service, professional guidance, a clean and safe environment as well as the highest quality tattoos and piercings available. Each one of these things are equally important and we strive to exceed your expectations in each.
You earned our respect as soon as you walked in the door. We believe that it is a privilege and an honor to have you as a client, therefor, you deserve our best effort. Furthermore, we know that the client/artist relationship is built on trust and respect which is why we make such a personal effort to understand your needs and concerns. Personal service means investing the time and energy it takes to make your visit to Big Brain great in every way. Personal service ensures that you get the tattoo that you want... and an experience you enjoy. We strive to give you more than a great tattoo; we strive to give you a great tattoo and a great experience as well.
We consider it our professional responsibility to inform our clients of the practical limitations of our art form, in other words, not every design will make a good tattoo. In these situations we will provide you with honest opinions, better suggestion and professional guidance to help you get a tattoo that last the test of time. It is irresponsible for an artist to accept payment for a tattoo that will be a problem later yet other shop do it all the time because of the temptation of a quick dollar. When you enter our facility you will find our store well lit, clean, and comfortable. These qualities ensure you are receiving your procedure in the safest environment possible. Please ask your artist to explain the sterilization technique they use to keep you safe.
Big Brain is world famous for quality tattoos. What makes us unique is our artist. They are among the best in the world and have come from near and far to work at one of the premier shops in the country.
History
The Big Brain saga started many years before the doors ever opened at 1123 Jackson Street. My first thought of owning a tattoo shop came well before I even had my first tattoo. I remember driving by a tattoo shop near the navy base in my home town and seeing the people gathered out side. I would imagine what an interesting life-style that was. To this day I am still fascinated and very impressed with the people I meet as a result of this business. Since that moment I knew I would be affiliated with this industry in some way, shape or form.
The fantasies of owning a shop started to become a reality in 1992 when I joined the Marine Corpse and met Chris Blinston. We had many similar interest, including art and drawing and it was only a short time before we were best friends; not long after that we were business partners. Him and I both pitched in and bought our first tattoo machine and, behold, the partnership was born. Since then the relationship has changed and evolved many times but what remains the same is our friendship and our determination to maintain a successful business.
That fledgling business venture stayed informal until we were scheduled to leave the Marines. It was at that point we decided to take it to the big time...and if we were going to do that we needed some names that you would never forget. Names like Bonnie and Clyde, Elvis and Costello or Penn and Teller. Thats when we came up with...drum roll please...Toejam and Buttweasel. Obviously, the fancy name thing didn't make us famous and were forced to change our strategy, but Thank God because I wasn't Toejam...I was the other one. It also taught us an important lesson. This business is not built on gimmicks or hype. It is built on hard work and long hours so in late 1996 we went to work for Mike Carrico at Bad Dog Productions in Orlando. He has a reputation for packing 20 years of knowledge and education into a 5 year period and he fully lived up to that reputation while we were there. He taught me a lot and I am convinced that I would not be anywhere near the person I am today without his influence and friendship. Thanks Mike.
While in Florida Chris and I hatched a master plan. With Mike's support and guidance we planned the move from Orlando to Omaha. By January 2000 we had packed up the U-Haul and began the journey. We searched and searched until we found the perfect spot...1123 Jackson Street. We spent that spring building the shop ourselves and finally opened early that summer.
Since then I have bought out Chris's portion of this shop. He now owns and operates Big brain 2 in south Florida. However, I am still proud to report that our original shop has grown exponentially. We now occupy almost four time the original space and we have gone from a two man operation to having 12 full time employees. In 7 years we have already won 100's of awards, satisfied 1000's of clients, published a reality book, developed a aftercare product and franchised the Big Brain name and still... the future is brighter than the past.
