MIKE GIANT

 

MIKE GIANT was born in 1971 in New York.

When he was very young he moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico (US), where he studied architecture for 4 years. Giant was not quite the same as the rest of the members of Albuquerque’s subcultures – Mike graduated in the top 10% of his high school class, which in return allowed him to attend the University of New Mexico on scholarship as an architecture major. However, in the year of 1993, he was offered a full-time position of designing graphics for Think Skateboardsin San Francisco and decided to leave the university without a degree as this job opportunity seemed too good to miss. Giant worked here for about four years, after which he set sails for London that became his residence for a short period of time before Mike ventured back to San Francisco. In 1998, he was offered an apprenticeship in tattooing by Nalla Smith. Giant began tattooing full-time a year or so later, slowly learning and advancing his skills that eventually had him working in legendary shops like East Side Ink, Newskool and Everlasting. He continued his work as an illustrator and tattooist in parallel, opening his tattoo shop in the city of Albuquerque.
Then, after 20 years in California, Mike moved to Boulder, Colorado where he currently lives and works. In 2003 he created with his friend Josh the clothing brand Rebel 8, in connection with the skateboarding world.
Through his tattoos, graffiti or illustrations, the Mexican culture and skateboarding environment are widely represented.

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