Walk along one of the busiest streets in Ashton-under-Lyne and you won't even realise it is there. Tucked away inside an inconspicuous Cavendish Street building, hidden above the offices of a construction company, is a studio producing some of the world's most creative and impressive tattoos.
Award-winning tattooist Dean Gunther began to follow his dream when he realised he hated working in sales at a young age. He turned to art, before focusing on tattooing, and left South Africa to further his career in the UK.
Now, the 34-year-old is earning a reputation as one of the country's most daring and talented tattooists. From quirky designs like trainers on a man's feet and a six-pack on a beer belly, to visually stunning realism based on nature and fantasy, Dean is winning an army of fans on social media and customers have flown in from around the world to be inked by him.
But the gifted artist, who lives in Hyde, admits his life wouldn't be quite the same if he hadn't made the decision to stop drinking almost five years ago. "I used to ride for a bike club at home," Dean told the Manchester Evening News .
"I used to hang out at rallies every weekend, and being a young artist - at 21 years old - I was earning good money. At that time I was still young so I was partying a lot.
"When I came to the UK, I left everything behind. I'm still in contact with my friends, but it gave me a break to get away from everything.
"I was constantly surrounded by parties, people would just stop by my house and we'd always drink. So when I came to the UK, I was here for six months and I quit the drink for good.
"It was just another obstacle to prevent me becoming the best version of myself. You cancel work, you're feeling ill - it's just for my health more than anything."
Dean recalls being artistic from a young age. He loved drawing, hated working in sales, so decided to pursue his passion 'regardless of money'. At the same time Dean began 'hanging out' at tattoo studios.
He got his first tattoo at the age of 18 from a man 'just out of prison'. The tattooist used a particularly unhygienic method involving rubber, water and Dean's spit - but as a teenager he loved the outcome. "I was so chuffed with my tattoo," said Dean. "I obviously hid it from my family."
Dean began to find drawing 'a little bit boring' before he started tattooing aged 21. He describes the tattoo scene in the UK and Europe as more advanced than in his home country, so he took the opportunity to move to Boscombe, Dorset, five years ago to further his skills.
After two years, Dean swapped the south coast for Tameside, and hasn't looked back. He opened DG Tattoo Art with his partner, Sam Jordan, 32. The couple met after Dean worked a 'guest spot' where she lived, and after Sam's previous apprenticeship was put on hold due to lockdown, Dean offered the chance for her to learn the craft alongside him.
Dean said: "Because we love our environment, there are no hassles or drama. Sometimes when we finish tattooing, we will just hang out here and relax, have a tea. We get along very well.
"I've taught her tattooing, and she's been tattooing just over a year. She's already doing amazing, she's done conventions, it's going really, really good."
The couple 'invest' in themselves as artists by attending conventions with world-renowned tattooists, with Dean also having worked guest spots in Europe and networked across the world. It's a dedication to the craft which doesn't come cheap, with the couple recently forking out £1,600 to attend a convention with classes featuring some of the world's top tattooists.
But the hard work is certainly paying off. Dean's Instagram account featuring examples of his work has more than 20,000 followers, while videos of his zany creations on TikTok have become viral hits, with over 135,000 likes. The exposure has seen Dean attract business from as far as the USA.
Each client comes up with a general theme for how they want their tattoo to look, before Dean takes a photo of the body part set to be inked and creates a design digitally. If the customer is happy with how it looks, work gets underway.
Dean charges a flat rate for a day session, which can last between six and 10 hours, so neither he nor the client feels rushed. The most detailed tattoos can take a number of days to be produced.
"You want a tattoo to last over many years and look very striking," he said. "For me it's important that you can make out what it is even if you stand and look far from it, so the colours need to be really saturated - a really bold tattoo with detail - but still look realistic.
"But there's a fine line, you can't make too bright colours, because in nature everything is a bit muted - it's not neon bright. In realism you have to keep it a bit muted."
The end results are visually stunning. Recently, Dean transformed the old Manchester City club badge into a dramatic realist image, featuring the ship and eagle in incredible detail.
Another stand-out creation involves a monkey stealing a nut, tattooed onto the leg of a man who had to have a testicle removed due to testicular cancer. The tattoo attracted huge interest on social media, and Dean hopes it raises awareness of testicular cancer and the need for men to check for it.
"He nearly died from it because he left it," said Dean. "He just didn't go to see a doctor, and the pain became so unbearable - like if you get kicked in the nuts, but non-stop. When he went [to hospital] they put him into emergency operation straight away. He said he wanted a squirrel taking a nut, or a monkey, and I loved the idea."
Dean only works on big projects. Some are inked on skin which can be covered by clothing, other customers ask for tattoos on their hands and face. Dean's own body has been a canvas for tattoo artists - his head and arms showcasing the work of others - and he admits there can still be a stigma attached to it in some parts of the world.
"My partner has noticed quite a lot when people stare [at me]," said Dean. "I don't notice it quite a lot, I'm sure people do, but especially in South Africa people are still a bit conservative.
"I think in the UK, people are a bit more normalised to it compared to other countries. If you go to Japan, they look at you like you're a gangster. It depends where you are in the world.
"If it's a young person coming in for a first tattoo, I won't tattoo the hands, neck or face, and I will discuss with the person what is the idea behind it. I do just advise them that it might affect them negatively, they might not get a job in the future because of it, you really need to think it over."
With his working constantly growing in popularity on social media, and a steely determination to continue developing his craft, Dean has big hopes for the future with a career he loves. He said: "Eventually I have this thing in my mind where I want to have a big studio and art gallery, where we can put our paintings on display, in like a tropical island.
"But at the moment it's very important for me to try and get my name out there - networking with top artists, doing tattoo conventions around the world and guest spots to really get myself out there." Follow Dean on Instagram and TikTok.
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