Curious Crow tattoo parlour opens in Diss

After setting up his own tattoo parlour in Thetford three years ago, Steve Bell’s Curious Crow has spread its wings and relocated to Diss.

The 40-year-old has been working in the trade for more than a decade, starting work as an apprentice in Norwich before moving to a now defunct parlour in elsewhere in the city.

In 2018, the father-of-one set up Curious Crow – the name owing to his interest in ‘curiosities’ similar to the natural curiosity of crows – with the initial plan of operating as a one-man-band.

However, as his customer base grew, so did his workforce; in the past few years, Mr Bell has taken on Amy Huser, 25, and Lucy Harbour, 32, and Damon Pearson, 32 – the latter becoming the parlour’s first laser technician.

“I set up on my own and thought I would be on my own, but now there’s four of us,” said Mr Bell, who lives in South Lopham with his wife and son.

“We’re now looking to bring in guest artists from all over the place.”

Curious Crow has expanded its offering well beyond tattoos. Drawing on what Mr Bell describes as his “love of the macabre”, the parlour even boasts its own taxidermy display.

On the ground floor, official merchandise is sold, including T-shirts designed by Mr Bell’s artists and inspired by their own tattoo work.

Since being handed the keys to the new Wills Yard premises on December 1, customers have been flooding in.

“It’s going well – we have had a really good response from people so far,” said Mr Bell.

“Yesterday, my customer drove all the way from Clacton, and we’ve had people from Bury St Edmunds, Norwich, Thetford and Stowmarket.

“A lot of our customers do seem to travel so where we are doesn’t seem to matter too much, and we are all fairly booked up so we haven’t had to rely on people coming in, but we look forward to welcoming new customers into the studio

“At the moment, we are still in the process of setting everything up, but the community here has been great.”