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STOCKBRIDGE - With his arms covered in tattoos and piercings that catch the light, Chico Dixon might look intimidating at first glance. But then he smiles, and whatever assumptions you had disappear.
Inside Black Rose Tattoo Collective, he’s working on a samurai warrior stretching across the right side of his client’s back. Chico studies the reference image on the monitor to his right, then looks back at the picture unfolding. He’s patient and locked in.
“It’s an exchange of energy,” he says. “You’re pouring your energy into somebody.”
Over the years, he’s tattooed everyone from celebrities and professional athletes to housewives, first time clients, and regulars who treat the shop like a second home.
He doesn’t see tattooing as rebellion. He sees it as a job that requires focus and care.
“You either get this right, or you don’t. There’s no erasing.”
He started tattooing at 19. College never felt like his path. “I did it for my parents,” he says. But when doors began closing, and people told him no, something in him refused to fold. “If it was just up to people telling me no, I would have never been here.”
In 2019 he bought a home here in Henry County. By December, he opened the shop. Three months later, the pandemic hit. He pauses when he talks about that season. “We made it through.”
What fuels him isn’t ego. It’s family.
He had his first child at 20, before he felt fully grown himself. Now he has four kids and what he calls a bonus baby. Providing for them sharpened him. “I can finally support my family,” he says, and there’s pride in it.
He knows what people assume about tattoo artists. He also knows he doesn’t have to defend it.
“It’s okay to be you,” he says, bluntly encouraging people not to let it define them.
Under the ink is a father, an artist, a business owner, and a man who bet on himself when others didn’t.
As the machine hums and the samurai takes shape, Chico keeps doing what he’s always done. Creating work that lasts.
Connect With Black Rose Tattoo Collective
📍 1481 Hudson Bridge Rd, Suite E, Stockbridge, GA 30281
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💎 CHICO’S HIDDEN GEM PICK 💎
Holey Sweet Donuts | Stockbridge
Chico’s local pick is Holey Sweet Donuts, a family-owned donut shop known for handcrafted donuts that are made fresh daily. “They’ve got maple bacon and pistachio that you can’t find anywhere else,” he says. With made-from-scratch dough and creative toppings, it’s a sweet stop that feels both familiar and elevated.
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