Georgina Leung is a London-based tattoo artist, illustrator, and maker, born to Hong Kong immigrant parents and trained in Jewellery Design at Edinburgh College of Art. After nearly a decade working in commercial fashion as a senior jewellery designer, she founded Chop Stick n Poke (@chop_stick_n_poke) in 2020, a joyful, tattoo-inspired project born from creative burnout and a desire for something more personal. Her work blends playful flash tattoo-style illustrations with colourful nods to the Asian diaspora and everyday life.
Vault Editions have been fans of Georgina's work for a long time, and we sat down to chat to her about her creative process, inspirations and motivations.
'Generations' by Georgina Leung
1. Hi Georgina, please can you talk us through your creative process, from the first spark of an idea to a finished illustration or tattoo design?
Almost all of my work surrounds a notion or a feeling. Whether it be a nostalgic longing or a new found self awareness, oftentimes the inspiration comes from how I might be feeling during that period of time in my life.
My work is entrenched in my cultural background too, which has given me so much perspective and narrative to work from, so I find myself doing deep dives of both contextual research or looking for that one image or object that sparks the feeling I am trying to articulate in my work.
I then tend to sketch out a composition, with a lot of focus on colour, mood, contrast, with light and dark areas.
Illustrating and drawing for tattoos has actually allowed me to develop my style as it makes me question contrast, shapes, colour palette and trying to speak and tell a tale through smaller formats of work and more concise storytelling.
Often I am lucky that when I have a vision for something I tend to try to complete it within that day or the following day, like entering a flow state.
Tattoo by Georgina Leung
2. Do you have any rituals or routines that help you get into the flow?
Sometimes the flow state isn’t always present, especially when trying to create new or innovative work. Tattooing has actually provided a somewhat meditative flow state for me that I never thought possible.
As ‘creating’ can have a certain sort of self-inflicted pressure, that, by the time I’m done with the design and go to tattoo it, I then enter a much more ‘methodical’ space where executing the tattoo with skill takes priority over creative flair.
This sort of ebb and flow has actually brought me a lot of peace.
Tattoo by Georgina Leung
3. You've shared that tattooing began as a creative outlet during a time of burnout. What keeps you creatively energised today?
I think if you ask any creative out there, realistically, burnout can happen anytime. But I think the reason for that is that through the chase for bettering ourselves, we have somehow lost the ‘why?’.
I feel very fortunate that I have an audience that allows me to dabble in projects outside of just tattooing, where making merch, crafting jewellery, carving lino, etc are welcome in a community because people understand all of us are in fact multi-faceted. When I experience any sort of burn out today, I often find myself seeking a new skill to learn or to try my hand at something I haven’t done before and it can be as simple as changing the media you use to convey an idea.
These simple changes can yield a lot of respite from the monotony of your ‘trade’.
'Morning Rituals' by Georgina Leung
4. Your work often resonates through joyful nods to food, objects, and everyday moments, especially within the Asian diaspora. Have those shared connections and responses from your audience shaped the way you approach your work?
In truth, although an illustrator and artist, I am a bit of a designer in my mind too.
I live to create work that has storytelling at the forefront, and I take huge satisfaction from knowing that people might resonate with what I’m trying to say. It doesn’t take much, but even just the knowledge that one singular individual saw what I was trying to say and felt something. Somewhere, anywhere in the world; that means something. And my main goal is to continue being able to self express and have others feel comforted knowing we aren’t all that different and have shared many memories together.
'Busy Working' by Georgina Leung
5. You opened your tattoo books in 2020 - if you could give yourself one piece of advice back then, what would it be?
"Don’t worry about ever feeling like you aren’t doing enough, you are."But then again, my younger self would have never listened!
Tattoo by Georgina Leung
6. Can you tell us about your studio, Yuzu Space, the creatives you work alongside, and what inspired you to create this space?
If I’m honest, East Asian Diaspora is still somewhat a minority in the UK tattoo industry and as much as I try to find like-minded individuals. The UK as a society still doesn’t quite cultivate a unified feeling, and often in London, this can also seem somewhat competitive.
I had first entered the industry in a much more ‘trad tattoo shop’ where the walls were adorned with Sailor Jerry and somewhat culturally insensitive memorabilia of a bygone era. I realised how uncomfortable that made me and also my customers, whereby a good 80% of my clients were either of Asian heritage or had lived in Asia as a child etc. I felt the urgency to try to create space, no matter how big or small, but a safe space that made sure people didn’t feel like they had to be on edge or were judged in any way as soon as they walked through the doors.
Understandably that’s a big task, but I believe a lot of my customers are actually all wonderful human beings that have helped add to the community-feeling that’s present in Yuzu space today.
'Pantry' by Georgina Leung
7. Is there a tattoo design you'd love to do, but haven't had anyone request yet?
I have actually been so fortunate, that a lot of my flash work and my custom pieces are precisely the sorts of things I love working on.
I think maybe I want to be able to challenge my black and grey tattoo skills more as I am actually more well known for my colour work. Black and grey can be difficult for me as I rely so heavily on how evocative colour can be when it comes to cultural symbolism and referencing. For example, a Chinese fortune knot wouldn’t quite feel the same if it weren’t red.
Tattoo by Georgina Leung
8. If you were to get one of your own tattoos, which one would you choose and why?
I tattoo(ed) myself a lot. Which I actually feel like I should have maybe been less impulsive, as I am now covered in what my nephew would describe as doodles. My body is not the most well curated vision, I must admit.
But for me, I enjoy my work for sure, but often people are their own worst critics and half of the joy personally comes from the meaning given to my work by others.
I enjoy hearing my audience tell me how they resonate with my work and why they picked that specific piece, so rather than seeing it all as ‘my’ work, I like to see ownership of them belonging to people who pick them as a forever piece.
'Night Diner' by Georgina Leung
9. Before becoming a tattoo artist, you studied jewellery and silversmithing at university and worked in commercial jewellery design. Jewellery still plays a role in your creative practice, with your beautifully hand-painted necklaces and earrings. What is it about jewellery design that continues to draw you in creatively?
I was always an illustrator at heart, but when it came to University, I wanted to be able to use illustration as a by-product. One that helps me realise a vision and drawing is but a catalyst or a method of problem solving.
I love to make and create with my hands, and I always have enjoyed a very mixed media approach to my work. So with jewellery, as much as I left that commercial industry, I still miss the making aspect of it. There is something so satisfying about small scale objects with big meaning.
I also think jewellery and tattoos' stance in society isn’t all too dissimilar, both with nods to self expression and adornment.
Tattoo by Georgina Leung
10. Who are three contemporary artists or creatives whose work you're enjoying or feeling inspired by?
Do Ho Suh has forever been one of my favourite artists of all time.
He made a huge impact on me when I travelled to Seoul to study as an exchange student during the 2010s and his work deeply resonated with my feelings of diaspora and the ideologies around ‘Home’. Which I feel still informs my work a lot.
Andreas Gursky has always depicted ‘vastness’ and the ‘mundane’ so beautifully for me. The way his work shows public spaces and architecture in a way where it feels lived in and interacted with.
Isamu Noguchi, more so for his sculpture and early works as a method and process of working. I often find I resonate more with immersive art with a focus on texture and medium used, rather than a fine art painting.
I love Kawanabe Kyosai (although not contemporary) for his comical and jovial work, and how it still resonates from the 1800s to present day. His work focuses so much on giving objects and creatures ‘context’ and ‘personalities’ that I really love to take inspiration in that approach.
'Home Within Home' by Georgina Leung
11. And finally, is there a book (art-related or otherwise!) that's had a lasting impact on you or your creative process?
I actually don’t own many artist’s books, as I feel like despite an artist’s body of work being impressive, I too, like many people, feel affinity with certain periods of work. I think it’s healthier for me not to study one singular style or obsess over one single individual’s work.
However, psychology & philosophy books are usually what I find most impactful right now, so currently I am about to start reading Gabor Mate’s ‘The Myth of Normal’.
'Door Gods' by Georgina Leung
Thank you so much for your time today Georgina! We can't wait to see where your creative practice takes you next.
