For Phoenix tattoo artist Sarah Elizabeth, failure was never an option.
A transplant from Milwaukee, she settled in the Valley of the Sun over four years ago. After years of dead-end jobs and false career starts, she realized the only constant in her life was art, so when she came across a long-vacant space in a north central Phoenix strip mall, she poured her faith — and her savings — into creating Temperance Tattoo Collective. Today, her shop hosts seven artists, plus a guest station for traveling tattooers.
Sarah Elizabeth (as she prefers to be called) intentionally designed the space to foster connection and put the focus on the client rather than the artist. Instead of being greeted by a counter filled with artist portfolios while tattoo artists are tucked away behind curtains or doors, clients walk into an open-concept layout where stations sit side by side, encouraging everyone to interact. The decor features moody lighting, gold- and earth-toned plush furnishings, tattooer artwork adorning the walls and a taxidermy giraffe named Guillermo in the corner observing it all…