CHARDON, Ohio -- A new type of tattoo is making waves across northeast Ohio, sound waves that is. The audio tattoo lets you ink a sound onto yourself, then play it back whenever you want.
Like grief, tattoos are both personal and permanent. Sometimes one can help deal with the effects of the other. It's what brought Emad Dubaley to artist Mike Martini's shop in Chardon from Toledo.
And for his first tattoo, Emad chose a memorial piece. A tattoo only a select few artists, like Mike, can do.
"Getting a memorial tattoo of someone's name or their death date is all cool...But this takes it to the next level” said Mike. It's a tattoo that incorporates technology to let you bring a lost loved one's voice to life.
"It is a voicemail that I have from my father who passed last year," said Emad of his tattoo choice. Skin Motion is the L.A.-based start-up behind the sound tattoos. The app creates a wave pattern of the audio you submit.
"I get brought in a file and actual visual file ... I use that to create a tattoo stencil" said Mike. And once tattooed, you can play it over and over using the app.
"In some instances, it is a sense of closure for some people... This is just something that means a lot to someone” said Mike.
It means so much to Emad he chose not to share it with us. A sense of privacy, Mike believes, makes this new art more appealing.
"A lot of time people have a loved one that they lost and it is sort of a painful memory for them. They want to keep it with them but they don't want the average person come up and ask questions," said Mike.
