------------------ The Artist -------------------
Dr. Esha
Varpe.
The Owl.
Dentist. Tattoo artist. The first female dental surgeon in India to cross into fine line tattooing — and build an entire practice around the belief that permanence should feel intentional.
✦
THE JOURNEY
Two disciplines.
One practice.
Most tattoo artists come from art school. I came from a dental chair. That difference shaped everything — how I hold a needle, how I think about the body, and how I approach a client who puts their trust in me.
This is not a career pivot. It is a deliberate convergence of two things I have always believed in: precision, and the power of something made to last.
2010 – 2016
The Dental Years
I trained and practised as a dental surgeon in Mumbai. Dentistry taught me that working on the human body is a privilege — that precision is not optional, and that a client's trust is the most important thing in the room. The fine motor skills, the understanding of skin and tissue, the discipline of hygiene — all of it came from here.
2016
The First Tattoo
I began tattooing in 2016 — quietly, deliberately. Fine line work felt like a natural extension of what I already knew how to do. The needle, the precision, the one-on-one relationship with someone who had decided to mark their body permanently. It was familiar in all the right ways.
2016
Moths and Owls Tattoos Opens
Me and Abhijit, opened Moths and Owls Tattoos — a private studio in Borivali West, Mumbai, designed to feel nothing like a traditional tattoo parlour. No walk-ins. No flash sheets on the wall. Just a considered, unhurried space where the only thing that matters is the piece we're making together.
2021
Bespoke. By Consultation Only.
I take on a small number of projects each month. Every piece begins with a conversation. I work across decorative fine line, structural concept work, and ornamental designs — always built around the individual body and story in front of me. Nothing is repeated. Nothing is rushed.
2024
Zero Pain — A First in India
Because I am a certified medical professional, I could do something no other tattoo artist in India could: offer infiltration anaesthesia — precise micro-injections into the surface skin — to eliminate pain entirely throughout the session. Not numbing cream. Not a spray. A genuine, medically sound technique that works consistently and doesn't affect ink quality or healing.
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"I came from a world where you work inside someone's mouth with a 0.3mm instrument under magnification. Fine line tattooing felt like the same conversation — just on a larger canvas."
------- esha varpe
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How it works
What every piece
is built around.
1
Intention before ink
No piece begins at the drawing stage. It begins with a conversation — about what you carry, what you want to say, and how your body should tell it. The design comes after the story is understood.
11
Precision as a standard
Fine line work is unforgiving. There is no layering, no covering up, no room for imprecision. Every line is placed once. The standard I hold comes from surgical training — not from tattooing alone.
111
The body as the brief
I don't place designs on bodies. I build them around them. The way a piece moves with your anatomy — how it flows along a shoulder, wraps a spine, sits on a forearm — is as important as the design itself.
