Wagga's pop culture tattooist is inking a path down Memory Lane

On the same day that he opened his first tattoo shop in Wagga, Hayden Rams decided to pop the question to his partner Mary.

“I had always dreamed of eventually opening up my own shop and I had a goal to have done it by the time I hit 30,” said the 35-year-old with a wry smile.

“I think when I finally met Mary a few years ago, we just clicked and she just always pushed me to do the best I can, so she was a big part of bringing the shop into reality.

“Just before we did our big opening, I asked her to marry me.”

Of course, she said yes.

Memory Lane opened for business in the South Town Walk at the southern end of Baylis Street in July and Hayden and fellow artist Kody Lavis soon found themselves fully booked.

“Within the first week or two of opening I got booked out till November and I’ve pretty much had to close my books at this point,” Hayden said.

“Kody’s booked out until October so already there’s plenty of work between us and I’ve got an apprentice, Dean, starting soon as well.”

Hayden has steadily built a reputation for his distinctive, brightly coloured pop-culture tattoos featuring characters from comics and Japanese anime.

“I do anything and everything but I really love working with colours and bold lines and anything that’s a little bit nerdy,” he said.

“There’s a lot of trust involved in getting a tattoo but I’m at the point where most people are coming to me because they know the sort of work I’ll come up with and they know they’ll get something good.

“Kody does a lot of neo-traditional stuff that’s inspired by the older traditional tattoos but it’s got a new school spin on it, so it’s a lot more refined and delicate.”

The new shop is decorated in soft turquoise blue and Hayden said it was a deliberate choice to stand out.

“I wanted it to feel really different and to have more welcoming colours and more distractions,” he said, indicating the distinctive murals, shelves lined with figurines and a row of skateboards on the walls.

“When you’re in pain, there’s nothing worse than just staring at a blank wall with the same four pictures in front of you. You want to have a bit more to keep your mind off it when you get to that point where you’re struggling so we wanted to have heaps of stuff to look at.”

As for the name, it was Hayden’s partner in life and business who added the magic.

“I just wanted something that felt really nostalgic and reminded you of childhood and the cartoons and anime and comics and everything I grew up with,” he said.

“We started brainstorming and Mary landed on Memory Lane and I fell in love with it.

“Some people didn’t like it at first but now that we’ve launched the branding and everything, I feel like it really fits and now everyone’s saying how much they love the name. So it’s turned around really nicely.

You can keep up with Memory Lane on Facebook or via Hayden and Kodi‘s Instagram pages.