Seven official hours, eleven if you want them. No sales tax — you're renting a chair, not buying a service.
No commission, no split, no minimum. You set your prices and you keep every dollar.
Station 1 is available every day. Stations 2 and 3 are available Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
Not exclusive, no contract term, no notice period. Book once, or book all the time.
Complete freedom
Come and go as you please. Decide when you work and when you don't. You have no obligation to us of any kind — no shifts, no quota, no expectation that you're here a certain amount.
Make this your main room and work it as much as you can. Or keep your home shop, your guest spots and your conventions and use this alongside them. Both are completely normal, and neither one gets you a different price or a different welcome.
Nothing you sign here is exclusive, and nothing ever will be. This is here when you want to use it.
Ten slots a week or one slot a year
Rent ten slots a week, every week, for years. Rent one slot in October because you're passing through New York and a client wants to see you. Rent three a week for a busy stretch and nothing for a quiet one.
There is no single right way to use this. No minimum, no monthly, no notice period, and nobody keeping score. You pay for the slots you book and nothing else.
We built it this way on purpose. We hope the flexibility lets artists work however actually suits them, rather than however suits a landlord.
How it works
- 1
Apply below
Tell us who you are and where we can see your work. We look at everyone. If it's a fit we send you a sign-in for the booking page.
- 2
Sign once
The first time you sign in there's an agreement to read and sign — the plain-English summary sits at the top of it. You do that once, and every sign-in after that goes straight to the calendar.
- 3
Book the days you want
Pick a date, pick a station, pay $50. Not sure yet? Put a free 48-hour hold on a date while you confirm with your client — two at a time, costs nothing.
- 4
Turn up and tattoo
Your station is set up before you arrive. You get your own door code. Bring your machines and your needles; the rest is already here.
The hours
Morning slot
8:00 AM – 3:00 PM
You can come in as early as 4:00 AM and must be out by 3:00 PM.
Evening slot
4:00 PM – 11:00 PM
You can stay until 3:00 AM if the work runs long.
Seven hours officially, eleven if you use the full window — and the slots are equal halves, so neither one is worth more than the other. Take both slots on the same day if you have a big piece. Book as many days as you like; there is no cap.
What's already at the station
All of this is included in the $50 — you don't carry it in, and you don't get billed for it. Anything not listed is yours to bring.
At your station
Set up and ready before you arrive.
- Tattoo bed
- Artist chair
- Work lighting — 90+ CRI, true colour
- Stencil printer (prints shading)
- Arm rests
- Tray with mounted tablet holder
- Squeeze bottles — alcohol for skin prep, diluted green soap
Stocked for you
Take what your session needs. It stays in the studio.
- Gloves
- Black ink (Xtreme)
- Ink caps
- Shading solution
- Green soap (Cleanze)
- Alcohol
- Madacide
- Stencil paper
- Stencil ink & solution
- Sensi-wrap
- Second-skin bandages
- Tape
- A&D
- Razors
- Aprons
- Workstation covers
- Bottle & machine bags
- Rinse cups & rinse water
- Paper towels
Also included
- Medical waste pickup
- Free help setting up your own card reader
- Optional: we can process client payments (see §4.3)
You bring
Anything not listed above is yours to supply.
- Machines & power supplies
- Needles & cartridges
- Colour ink
- Any supplies you'd like to bring
We stock supplies so the chair can stay at $50 rather than the going rate for a room in Manhattan. Use what your session needs — that's what it's there for.
What stays yours
Your clients
Anyone you tattoo here is your client, before and after. No non-compete and no non-solicit — nothing stops you taking every one of them with you.
Your money
Deposits and payments go to you directly. We don't hold your money at any point, and we don't take a cut of it.
Your prices
You set your own rates and your own minimums. Nobody here sets a floor or a ceiling for you.
Your work
Your designs, your style, your process. We don't approve flash, assign jobs, or tell you how to tattoo.
Your schedule
You book the days you want. No shifts, no rota, no expectation that you're here a certain amount.
Your name
Ask us and we'll share your work with credit. Don't, and we won't — either answer is fine, and it changes nothing else.
What you'd actually keep
The difference between a commission split and a flat chair rent is not small, and it grows with every dollar you earn. Here is the same month, run both ways.
| A month's work | You bring in | At a commission shop | Renting here | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four $100 tattoos a day, two days a week 8 slots a month · $400 rent | $3,200 | $1,92060/40 split | $2,800 | +$880$10,560 a year |
| $600 a day, three days a week 12 slots a month · $600 rent | $7,200 | $5,04070/30 split | $6,600 | +$1,560$18,720 a year |
| $1,000 a slot, four days a week 16 slots a month · $800 rent | $16,000 | $11,20070/30 split | $15,200 | +$4,000$48,000 a year |
Four working weeks a month, and supplies included on both sides. A 70/30 split is a generous shop — 60/40 is common, and at 60/40 every gap above gets wider. The pattern holds at any number: a split takes a percentage of everything you ever earn, while rent is $50 whatever you charge. The better you get, the more a split costs you.
And you are not gambling on a quiet day, because you book a slot when you already have the work for it. This is an appointment studio — you take the booking, then you take the chair. You are never paying to sit and hope.
Walk-ins
We're an appointment-based studio, but walk-ins do find us, and they happen often enough to be worth explaining. If one comes in while you're here, they're yours as your own client — your price, your work, and you keep all of it. There's no split on a walk-in and no cut to the studio.
We use the same rotation most shops do, so nobody has to work it out with a customer standing in the doorway:
- Anyone free goes ahead of anyone tattooing. If you're mid-piece and someone else is open, it's theirs — you're not expected to stop.
- If two of you are free, whoever got in first takes it.
- Then it rotates. The next walk-in goes to the next artist, and round it goes from there.
That's the whole system. It's meant to be fair without anyone having to police it.
The one thing we need from you
The only agreement we need is the contractual one, and it protects both of us. You are your own boss here — responsible for your own payments, your own behaviour, your own clients, your own licence, your own insurance and your own taxes.
We provide the environment. The contract you sign to work here simply puts in writing that you are responsible for yourself. That's it — and if you already work for yourself, none of it will be new to you.
Apply
Nothing here is a commitment — it's an introduction. We read every one. If it's a fit, we'll send you a sign-in.
Thanks — that's with us.
We read every application. If it's a fit we'll email you a sign-in for the booking page. If you don't hear back and want to nudge us, we're at info@manhattantattoosllc.com.
Rather just talk to a person? Email info@manhattantattoosllc.com or use the contact page.
Manhattan Tattoos NYC · 235 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 · Chelsea. Already renting here? Sign in to book.