Veteran tattooers Rob Freund and Dave Mowers both tattooed underground in the area while the art form was banned in NYC. When the ban was lifted in 1997, Rob and Dave opened up one of the first storefront tattoo shops in Queens. A staple in the Ridgewood area ever since, R&D is just a few city blocks from the Queens/Brooklyn border. The shop has tattooed generation after generation of Queens and
Brooklyn families throughout the years. R&D is proud to carry on the rich and storied history of traditional tattooing in NYC. Built on the traditional values of "heavy style" NYC tattooing made famous in places like Coney Island and the Bowery. R&D takes the "east coast style" of tattoo (bold lines, smooth black shading and bright colors) and brings it into the future, adding artistic expertise to traditional tattoo values. When you get tattooed at R&D, you will get a tattoo that will look great the day you get it AND look just as nice 20 years down the road!!! The shop is one of the ONLY shops in the city to still boast ceiling to floor tattoo flash design sheets in the waiting room, ALL hand painted by artists who have worked at the shop throughout the years. When you walk into R&D, you walk into a tattoo shop that screams OLD New York City. It's a REAL tattoo shop, not an art gallery or salon/studio type of environment. A tattoo shop that JUST DOES TATTOOS, and does 'em well!! All of this being said, the shop doesn't JUST do traditional tattoos, the artists at R&D welcome custom work and are proficient in all types of tattooing whether it be black and gray, Japanese, custom lettering, etc. CURRENT STAFF:
DAVE MOWERS
RICH FIE
STEVIE WELLS
AKIRA LATANZIO
