After three and a half years of working outside of Austin, Chad Iverson will bring his tattoo shop back to town. Ivy’s Ink is set to reopen in the Jim’s MarketPlace strip mall within the next month.

“We’re the longest running tattoo shop in Austin,” Iverson said.

The business originally opened in Austin in 2009, and has since moved around a bit. After leaving Austin, Iverson moved the business into his Rose Creek home and later on to Hawthorne, Florida.

“[Being a tattoo artist] is what I do for a living,” Iverson said. “Wherever I live, that’s what I do.”

However, after what he calls ‘an unfortunate chain of events’ in Florida, he’s back in Austin. This time around, the shop isn’t only offering tattoos, but art in general.

“It’s all art,” Iverson said.

He plans to partner with his friend and fellow artist, Ryan Heath, who owns a photography studio in Albert Lea.

Heath will keep his studio, but he’ll have a different focus for his work at Ivy’s Ink. He will paint and draw, as well as tattoo customers.

“It’s not so much a tattoo shop as it is a studio,” Iverson said.

Though Ivy’s Ink used to sell biker-style apparel and designs as well, Iverson will ax that part of his business.

“Austin has a hard time supporting things like that,” he said.

Ivy’s Ink will be the only tattoo shop currently in Austin. However, Iverson still wants people to know his business doesn’t have the bad stigma that other tattoo shops tend to. He tattoos all types of people, such as police officers and jail clerks, among other professions.

“I don’t try to be the average tattoo shop or artist,” he said.