Adelaide Arcade tattoo studio The Gilded Goblin runs on an ethos of empowering clients of every gender and creating a safe space free of judgement.

Allanah Pankhurst-Trice and George Gilles pride themselves on creating beautiful tattoos and upholding an inclusive and welcoming environment in the studio they recently founded, The Gilded Goblin.

The studio specialises in a neo-traditional, illustrative tattoo style, while also allowing their resident artists to practise according to their own vision.

“Stylistically, it’s almost somewhere between trad, which is your bold, Sailor Jerry, traditional tattoos, and realism,” Allanah says.

“There’s a lot of beautiful portraiture in there, but you still have these hard lines for contrast and impacts.”

Allanah and George came into the tattoo industry through their love of art and both knew they wanted to pursue a creative career.

“I was working in retail and one of the artists who was working at [Mount Barker tattoo studio] Sashiko just came in… I was drawing on the desk and she was like, ‘Hey, you know you can apply for an apprenticeship if you want?’” George says.

“It wasn’t until I saw a real tattoo artist in the flesh that I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll just do it’.”

Similar to George, Allanah says her tattooing journey started at Sashiko, where the pair met.

“The minute she stepped into Sashiko, we immediately bonded just in terms of personality, spirit, ethos, but also art style, drive [and] ambition,” Allanah says. “So, it was just an immediate kinship.”

A snippet of the Goblin Wonderland. This picture: Johnny von Einem

The Gilded Goblin is located in a Renew Adelaide space in Adelaide Arcade and filled with artwork sourced from second-hand retailers all around South Australia, with their favourite painting being one originally purchased from the Louvre gift shop in 1973.

“We were going for an 1800s drawing room, Alice in Wonderland, lost-in-a-tea-shop kind of thing,” George says, as Allanah laughs in agreement.

“It’s kind of a bit of a step away from the pretty dark, heavy-metal, what you’d kind of associate with a traditional older style of tattoo studio.”

Their welcoming space goes hand-in-hand with the business’s ethos, as the pair pride themselves on inclusion.

“We want to create a safe, inclusive, respectful place for everyone [and] for every single client,” Allanah says.

“We want people to come in and feel like they’re empowered to make decisions on their body, to not feel intimidated when it comes to the tattooing process ­­­— you know, to feel safe and happy and included here.”

Allanah working her craft. This picture: Renew Adelaide

This was a driving factor when creating the principles behind The Gilded Goblin, as Allanah and George had both faced forms of adversity previously in the industry.

“As a queer person, and George as a woman, I think we’ve faced a lot of exclusion, not just in this industry but before in the other roles that we were in,” Allanah says.

With tattooing being such an intimate art form, the duo makes their customers’ needs a priority, and want people of all genders to feel heard when coming to The Gilded Goblin.

“There is this culture around tattooing and tattoo shops, they are intimidating. You can’t feel empowered to change your mind, or move a stencil, or, you know, ask questions,” Allanah says.

“For us, we just wanted to extend the love and respect that we would like to be shown as queer and female artists.”

The Gilded Goblin is located at Level 1, Shop 135—137 Adelaide Arcade, and opens Monday through Saturday by appointment only.

Connect with the business on Instagram or go to their website to book an appointment.

This picture: Johnny von Einem