About
Wayne Galbraith is a tattoo artist and owner of WONDERLAND STUDIOS based in Kitchener Waterloo ON. Tattooing found me at an early age. In 1995, I began an apprenticeship at Tattoos by Zap in Owen Sound Ontario.Through dedication and hard work ( a lot of hard work) I learned the art of tattooing in 2 years and rose to management. Running a tattoo shop for almost 9 years was fun but I really wanted to focus more on tattooing. So with a heavy heart I left my home town of Owen Sound and sought a new life in Waterloo. Under the guidence of my friend and mentor Jamie Izumi, since 2003 I've been pushing my art at Tora Tattoo. Everyday being inspired by the talents of my co-workers and through working with great clients, I continue to grow as an artist.
2016 I opened WONDERLAND STUDIOS at 70 Victoria st .n. in kitchener.
For the past few years I've really enjoyed painting, painting on canvas ,old skateboards and pretty much anything else I can get my hands on. It allows me a freedom that I dont have with tattooing, the freedomlet loose and express my vision.
In my spare time, I still manage to find time for skateboarding and being a father.
ABOUT THE SHOP
Wonderland Tattoo Studios was established in the fall of 2016 as the brain child of Wayne Galbraith. His goal was to merge his love of tattooing, painting, and fine art into a unique space that challenges the traditional perceptions of a tattoo shop and transcends them. More than the sum of its parts, not simply an amalgam of a tattoo/piercing shop crossed with a gallery; Wonderland Studios is a warm and inviting environment with a strong emphasis on customer service, cleanliness and sterilization, and is the FIRST of its kind being the ONLY fully disposable tattoo and piercing studio operating in Kitchener-Waterloo and the Tri-cities.
"I thought all needles were already disposable?"
So what exactly does fully disposable mean? The piercing or tattooing needle is not the only thing that becomes contaminated during a procedure, tattoo tips & tubes can be used on over 100 people before they are used for your procedure. Now while it is certainly possible to scrub, disinfect, clean, and sterilize these tubes & instruments; we at Wonderland Studios believe that are clients are worth more, so we do more. Every single needle tip is single use for each client, membranes keep ink and blood from traveling backwards contaminating machinery, and all tips and grips are single use and disposable so as a client when you chose Wonderland you know with certainty you are having your tattoo applied with utmost care and in the cleanest manner possible.
Piercing receiving tubes, tools, and hemostats become contaminated. Insertion tapers can literally have been inside 100's or 1000's of clients before being used in your piercing, so if they are required to change direction for jewelry insertion then we make disposable versions out of needle blanks! We employ advanced freehand and tool free piercing techniques to eliminate the need for clamps (which can also make piercings more uncomfortable). Advanced Statim sterilization let's you see everything required for your piercing sterilized right before your eyes, and gives us the freedom to show you how your new jewelry will look, and even anodize (change the colour of) your jewelry before it's even pierced!
HISTORY
The story of Wonderland goes back much farther, almost two decades from its inception to the early days of the year 2000, and a small town in the northern area of southwestern Ontario. Having already completed a tattooing apprenticeship at Tattoos by Zap in Owen Sound 5 years prior, Wayne Galbraith was well on his way to establishing a reputation as a renown tattoo artist in the area. At this same studio Deacon Matheson would begin working as front end staff during the summer months while still attending Wilfrid Laurier University. Wayne's body of work would continue to grow, as would his desire to continually push the bounds of tattooing, drawing inspiration from artists like Aaron Cain, Guy Aitchison, and Adrian Lee. Deacon would continue his education, at WLU with a major in biology, and would begin to bring his knowledge of anatomy and microbiology into his apprenticeship which was now underway. The pair would begin continually pushing the standards of cleanliness and sterilization far beyond the minimum requirements of the time, after attending educational courses like Blood-borne Pathogens, and Infectious Disease Control and Transmission; education they continue to this day.
Never one to remain stagnant Wayne was in dire need of a change, and in search of an environment that would continue to spur him forward. This would lead to a move to the Kitchener-Waterloo region in 2004 where Wayne would take up residency at the premier studio of that era, Tora Tattoo. Having left his studies to pierce full-time Deacon quickly became the authority on piercing in the Grey/Bruce county region, but longed for more than just being a big fish in a small pond. Chance again would intervene, and the two friends would soon again be under the same roof when a piercing position became open at Tora Tattoo. For over a decade the two would work together along side the Tora staff, accumulating awards and recognition from the people of K/W as well as through many local publications, fundamentally involved in the multiple back to back winning the Record Readers Choice award for best studio, being voted as the best piercer in the region numerous times by the readers of the now defunct Echo and Velvet Rope magazine.
In time however, all things must change...To bring about this change, to be able to stay current, to continue to forge a path forward...we have the never resting on their laurels staff and practitioners of Wonderland Tattoo Studios.