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August 31st, 2006
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Poll: Most Popular Tattoo Is Chinese Character For 'Unique' |
Survey Proves That Sinographs Aren't Just For Sinos Anymore
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Above: The hottest tattoo for all the cool, sexy people. |
Society - In the United States, where body art and body modification are suddenly all the rage, the most popular tattoo design is the Chinese symbol for "unique," according to a new survey by the American Association of Tattoo Artists.
For the first time, the design beat out other popular favorites, including the crucifix, the yin and yang, the butterfly on the lower back, the barbed wire around the upper arm, the heart with the knife through it, and the Chinese character for 'original.'
"Tattooing is a great way to express your individuality," says Frederico Saleri, Italian-American tattoo artist and bestselling author of You're One Of A Kind...Now Prove It! "And the Chinese character for 'unique' has become the most popular way of doing so. Everyone is doing it."
The design has become more popular in recent years after it was spotted on numerous celebrities, including Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, and Heath Ledger. The tattoo is now so common that this year's Tattoo Artists' Convention included an instructional seminar on how to render the character correctly. The seminar was needed, Saleri says, because too many customers had complained that their tattoos differed from the ones they had seen on TV.
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| "Tattooing is a great way to express your individuality. Everyone is doing it." |
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Tattooing, once largely restricted to bikers, gang members, and amnesia victims, has now become mainstream. Tattoos are now common among Americans of all ethnic groups and social classes, giving rise to thousands of new tattoo parlors and inspiring TLC's popular television show Miami Ink.
Following the success of Miami Ink, other networks are planning their own programs based on the tattooing phenomenon. Lifetime Television will explore the dark side of body art in its original movie Signs of Danger, about a violent, tattoo-covered husband and his abused wife, played by Meredith Baxter. Next week, the History Channel will begin airing a new five-part series, Tattoos of the Third Reich.
With all the hype, Saleri says, it’s easy to forget what body art is all about: a celebration of the individual. "Tattoos aren’t about TV shows, and celebrities, and glamour," he says. "They're about you and me. They're a way of telling the world that you're special. If you ask me, everybody should have one."
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