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| Fashion model and tattooist Noma Han / Courtesy of Esteem Entertainment |
By Kim Jae-heun
Being a fashion model is not as fancy as spectators of runway shows imagine. The vast majority of models are fighting for their living. This was the case for model Noma Han who has explored modeling for eight years now.
"I was a freelancer model eight years ago and the fashion industry at that time preferred pretty- looking boys or big guys," said Han during an interview with The Korea Times at the Esteem Entertainment building in Gangnam, Seoul, last Tuesday. "When I do something, I want to be great at it. In modeling, I found almost no chances to succeed here and so I decided to find opportunities overseas."
He dropped out of college and earned money to finance his trip to New York. Han's parents were not excited about his modeling career and didn't help him financially.
He worked at a chicken restaurant day and night to earn money to finance his three-month stay in America and he finally flew there on the cheapest airplane.
His life as a fashion model in America was no different from his days in Korea. Han had to find a second job to make his living.
Han knew that he would never get a white-collar job because he finds them too boring. His interest in taking photos and being a professional photographer is a different story, though.
"For two to three years, I was getting tattoos regularly and one day I suddenly thought that I want to become a tattooist. I hate boring jobs and I get sick of things easy but being a tattooist sound fun," said Han.
After a year of consideration – because Han found it tough to have two jobs – he learned the skill.
The fashion model thought he would learn for three month and start earning money but it took him a year and half.
The first time he made a tattoo, he got nervous and sweated a lot when he put the needle in a customer's skin. Then, Han got his first satisfactory result in five month – leading him to think he had talent as a tattooist – but it only lasted a day as he ruined the next tattoo.
"I cannot get loosened up ever with making tattoos. A tattoo stays on your body forever and it's a product of making marks by leaving scar. A customer has to trust me and I have to trust the customer. I have to do my best all the time," added Han.
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| Fashion model and tattooist Noma Han / Courtesy of Esteem Entertainment |
Until one year ago, Noma would only introduce himself as a fashion model – that he has became one of the top Korean models to walk on the runways of high-profile designer collections such as Lanvin, Dries Van Noten, Neil Barrett and Paul Smith.
Now, he doesn't feel ashamed to say he is a tattooist, not because he owns an official license from New York City, but because he has a number of regular customers who loves his tattoo work.
"I think it has almost become four years since I first started drawing designs. I feel thrilled when my customer likes my tattoos and calls me back for another one the next time. It's more of communicating with people," said Han.
Han travels around the world but visits New York and Taiwan frequently. He is most popular as tattooist in Taiwan where he had up to five customers that earned him some 2,000 dollar a day.
The fashion model wants to become a tattooist who engraves really good designs. Therefore he doesn't tattoo copies and only gets references from pictures or photos that a customer brings to him.
Han can be reached at tattoobynoma@gmail.com.
