Vietnam Tattoo Culture: What Changed in 11 Years

10/08/2026

In 2015, just 4% of Vietnamese people had a tattoo, and the idea of traveling specifically to get a tattoo in Vietnam barely existed. Vietnam tattoo culture was still shaped by decades of stigma: ink carried associations with gangs, prisons, and lives outside the law. Young people who got tattoos hid it, avoiding the topic at family dinners.

If tattoos were mostly about personal style then, today they carry something deeper: a way to preserve stories, mark milestones, and hold onto the moments that mattered most.

That same year, 1984 Studio opened in Hanoi.

2015 – 2017: Starting When It Still Took Courage

Opening a tattoo studio in Vietnam in 2015 meant working against deep-rooted doubt. Most clients were international travelers or overseas Vietnamese. Vietnamese tattoo artists working professionally understood they were building something the culture hadn’t made room for yet.

1984 Studio was founded by artist Đức Nguyễn. The name came from a moment of chance: glancing at his motorbike odometer after a long day of work, he saw 1984 – his birth year. It felt right. On August 22, 2015, the studio opened at 35 Hàng Buồm in Hanoi’s Old Quarter, and moved to 37 Mã Mây fourteen months later.

2018 – 2019: The Shift Begins

In July 2018, Vietnam’s first tattoo expo took place in Hanoi: 150 artists from 15 countries, thousands of visitors, live tattooing on a public stage. For the first time, Vietnam’s tattoo culture was framed openly as art. Social media did the rest. Vietnamese tattoo artists started building real followings. Styles were evolving: Fine Line, Blackwork, Neo-Traditional alongside growing interest in Vietnamese motifs.

At 1984, this era brought expansion into Tây Hồ and Hội An, and a sharper sense of what the studio stood for.

2020 – 2021: The Quiet Years

COVID halted everything. Tattoo tourism stopped overnight. For any tattoo studio in Vietnam that depended on international visitors, this was the hardest stretch the industry had faced. Many didn’t survive it.

For 1984, three branches closed: Tây Hồ, Hàng Buồm, and Cửa Đại. Many artists left. The team that stayed chose to, not because it was easy, but because they believed in something bigger.

When studios reopened, demand came back fast. The pause made people more deliberate about where they went.

2022 – 2024: The Comeback

In mid-2022, 1984 officially reopened in Hội An – the first concrete sign that the rebuild had truly begun. As Vietnam fully reopened, tattoo tourism surged. Vietnam tattoo culture was finding its international audience: travelers planning trips around studio appointments, choosing to get a tattoo in Vietnam with clear intention, not as an afterthought, but as part of the journey itself.

Vietnamese tattoo artists found a new confidence too: building a distinctly Vietnamese visual language rather than mirroring styles from elsewhere.

For 1984, it was a return to full intensity: rebuilding from a leaner team until Mã Mây and Hội An were running at full force again by 2024.

2025 – 2026: Vietnam Tattoo Culture Has Arrived

Today, the scene looks nothing like it did in 2015. Tattoo tourism is a recognized part of Vietnam’s travel identity. From 2025 to 2026 alone, 1984 welcomed around 6,000 tattoo clients and 4,000 piercing clients, numbers that reflect not just growth, but a fundamental shift in how people choose to mark the moments of their lives.

In 2025, 1984 opened in Huế, completing the three-city corridor and adding a new model: tattoo studio, restaurant, and gathering place in one.

1984 is also one of the few studios in Vietnam to offer a truly complete service process: dedicated aftercare guidance, a lifetime tattoo warranty, and an assistant team present with clients from start to finish, because the experience matters as much as the result.

That same year, floods hit Hội An hard. The branch took on significant damage – a reminder that building something lasting means weathering more than just industry shifts. The studio recovered. The work continued.

The question has shifted from “should I?” to “where, and with who?”

Eleven Years In

1984 Studio turns 11 this August.

Eleven years ago, Vietnam’s tattoo culture was barely a conversation. For a tattoo studio in Vietnam that opened when none of this was certain, that milestone means something, not as a number, but as proof that building with care, at the right time, tends to last.

Founder Đức Nguyễn has been hands-on since day one, and still is. His approach: professional ethics and the artist’s spirit come first. The people at 1984 aren’t just technically skilled; they’re genuinely invested in the craft. It’s what kept the right team through the hardest years, and what keeps the work honest today.

More than just beautiful tattoos, 1984 aims to create an experience worth remembering from the first consultation to the moment you walk out the door.

To everyone who sat in the chair, in Hanoi, Huế, or Hội An, or who traveled from somewhere else entirely: you are part of this story.