Bernie became intrigued with the art of tattoos at the age of six after seeing an old Navy tattoo on his friend’s father. Growing up in Melbourne in the sixties he was heavily influenced by the growing hot rod culture. He was always a prolific artist who, while working as a bricklayer, taught himself sign writing and custom motorcycle painting in his spare time. In 1980, just as his custom painting started to take off, he made the switch to tattooing.
In 1982 he opened the first studio at Burleigh Heads, later moving to Southport. In 1984 he was offered to run Moe Webley’s Expert Tattoo at Stones Corner while Moe went travelling overseas. Later, when Moe returned, Bernie stayed on and they worked together until 92/93 when Bernie left to open Wild at Heart Tattoo.
Bernie specialises in dynamic tattoos that visually pack a punch with bright, high contrasting colours.
His spare time is spent riding off road motorcycles and tinkering on classic cars, when time permits in between raising a family.
