Stephanie Spear 
Washington Plaza on Lake Anne is one of the first developments built by Robert E. Simon when developing Reston in the 1960s. The buildings that make up the plaza, including restaurants, shops, a community center, and housing, are some of the oldest buildings in Reston. One of the plaza’s newest tenants is making history in another way, by opening the first tattoo shop in Reston. Unbroken, located at 1606 Washington Plaza, opened in December 2021 and has brought new energy to the neighborhood. We got the chance to chat with the Unbroken team to learn more about the shop and what brought them to Reston. Read on for more with Laura and Jason from Reston’s Unbroken Tattoo.
About the Shop
Tattoo artist Jason Jinks, known as Painless J, is the lead tattoo artist at Unbroken. His partner, Laura Ermi, manages the business. Jason has been a tattoo artist for over 20 years and Laura has several years’ experience managing restaurants, including the recently-closed Mon Ami Gabi at Reston Town Center. Also at the studio are an apprentice tattoo artist and another tattoo artist named Sean Owens who goes by Nobody.
Jason got his start in tattooing in an unlikely place: a beach in Hawaii. “I grew up in Hawaii and the first tattoo I ever did was with my friend Charlie sitting on the beach,” he said. “As a teen I had more experiences with tattooing, learning how to place a tattoo, how to make a machine, and so on.”
Behind Jason’s interest in tattooing was his passion for art. “I’ve always leaned toward drawing, my whole life,” he said. “Whether as an escape or something to do professionally.” Jason studied painting and art history at the Atlanta College of Art after leaving the Navy. “At the time, I was already showing my work in studios, but I wanted to learn more,” he said. “I was selling a lot of art but I was still curious.”
Jason described tattooing as a natural extension of his artwork. “I was selling a lot of work but people were buying art just to buy art,” he said. “I wanted to do something with art that was more personal, that would connect with people.”
Over time, Jason grew his portfolio and for a time was part-owner of a studio in Ashland, Virginia. He was working at a studio in Bethesda in 2021 when he and Laura started talking seriously about opening their own studio. “We were always coming down to the plaza to go to Kalypso’s or walk around, and we saw that this space was vacant,” Laura said. “It really felt like fate that as we were having these conversations about opening up our own shop that we saw this space was available.”
By the end of 2021, the space was theirs, and the studio held its grand opening on December 31st, 2021. Jason says the name Unbroken comes from the inspiration he gets from clients. “Everyone who comes in here is a warrior and they’ve been through stuff in their life, and they keep going,” he said. “It’s the best part of tattooing for me, making art for someone, making their lives better in some way, and when they leave, they’re so excited.”
“There’s a real thing there, with creating art and having it be appreciated. It’s real, it’s raw, and it’s primal,” Jason said. “I love the Rocky Balboa quote, it’s not about how many times you get knocked down, it’s about how many times you get back up. And that’s where Unbroken comes from. My tattoo shop is about is coming in here, and enduring the pain, going through it, going through the process of just pushing through and breaking through, and becoming that better version of yourself when you’re done.”
Jason and Laura live in Herndon with their four children and say that when they’re not working, they like to stay home and relax and cook. “We’ll go out to Jimmy’s or Carpool,” Jason said. “And we love Wegmans!” Jason works out at Crossfit Reston.
Both Jason and Laura are visibly tattooed and say that while attitudes about body art are changing, there is still some stigma attached. “We’re really just normal, family people,” Laura said. “We love our family, our community. We love to meet new people.” Jason added, “I think if people saw us with our family I think they would realize just how normal we are, it does hurt to be judged.”
Tattoos in Reston
Unbroken is the first tattoo shop in Reston and both Laura and Jason say that they’ve received a warm welcome from other business owners in the community. “On our first day open in 2021, the team from Reston’s Used Book Store came by with a beautiful coffee table book of tattoo art with a note that said welcome to the neighborhood,” Laura said. “The team at Chesapeake Chocolates has always been so supportive, too.”
“We love being a part of the community,” Laura said. “There’s something going on at the plaza every weekend and it’s so fun. We also like being able to support causes that are important to us. We’re big supporters of the South Lakes High School Food Pantry and the Pride Festival.” Both Laura and Jason described the sense of pride they get from seeing their business name on a sponsorship banner or other material. “Things that are people-based and community-based are so important to us, and it’s just rad to see our name out there affiliated with those events.”
Some may be surprised to learn how strictly regulated tattoo shops are, Laura said. “We have the same
licensing board as barbers and cosmetologists,” she said. Both the artist and the facility have to be licensed, and are subject to inspection.
Thinking of Reston or the Northern Virginia area doesn’t exactly conjure up images of a lot of tattooed people, but Laura explained this by saying that serious people want serious tattoos. “People take their body art seriously,” she said. “They want high-quality work.”
Most of Unbroken’s clientele are repeat customers or people who find out about the studio from word of mouth. “We don’t do any marketing,” Laura said. Since Jason has been tattooing for over twenty years, he has a big client base. “Now some of my customer’s children are coming in to get tattooed, which is wild,” he said.
Laura said that anyone who comes to Unbroken, whether it’s their first or fiftieth tattoo, is part of the Unbroken family. “We take the customer experience really seriously,” she said, “That may be following up with them after the tattoo, seeing how it’s healing, and so on.” Jason echoed this, saying, “Everyone I tattoo for the most part has become an integral part of our lives. And it’s really great.”
Unbroken’s reputation is also going far within the tattoo industry. Recently, the studio hosted JD Crowe, a longtime American traditionalist tattoo artist. “He’s retired now, but he goes on book tours,” Laura said. “He researches where to go and he picked our studio, which was a huge honor. He signed a bunch of artwork and flash for us and it was so surreal to see him here in our studio.” Other fans traveled to Unbroken to see and meet JD Crowe.
What to Expect
Laura’s years of experience in customer service through the restaurant industry are apparent in the smooth operations of the shop. Appointments are preferred and deposits are required to hold an appointment. “I’ve never worked in a shop as smoothly-run as this,” Jason said. “It’s unlike any other shop.”
This author can’t claim to have spent much time in tattoo shops but the atmosphere was more like a hair or nail salon than anything else. The buzz of work, a clear and clean aesthetic to the space, an upbeat vibe, but a serious demeanor around the tasks at hand.
Clients can park in the lot at Lake Anne and grab a bite at any of the cafes around the plaza. The space is decorated with tattoo art from friends and other tattoo artists that Jason and Laura have collected over the years.
The only work done in the studio is tattooing – no piercing. There is a piercing shop upstairs, called Liquid Jewels. “It’s a lot easier to just focus on tattooing,” Jason said. “The flow of clientele is different, and the pricing is different.” Liquid Jewels is owned by Jesse Maloof, with whom Laura and Jason have a good relationship. “It’s great, we can just point people to him or he’ll send people to us,” Laura said.
In terms of tattooing styles available, Jason said his favorite kind of tattoo is a good tattoo. “I love very historical or traditional-based tattooing, so I’m a huge fan of things like Japanese traditional, tribal traditional, West Coast fine line, American traditional stuff, and anything Celtic.” Styles available at the shop include: realistic, large-scale, black and grey, neotraditional, geometric, linework, script, and American traditionalist, to name a few.
During our visit to the shop, 18-year-old Alix Eallard was getting their first tattoo in honor of their upcoming first year of college. “I grew up in Broadlands and I’m going to Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh,” they said. “I’ve always wanted a tattoo, my dad has some so I grew up thinking they were cool. For several months I had the idea of a design that could also work as a scar cover-up. I emailed a bunch of studios to see how they could make it happen and ended up here.” Alix said that working collaboratively with Laura via email to get the tattoo set up was part of what made it an easy choice to go to Unbroken.
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