Kane Gordon
INTERVIEW WITH
I met Kane when my band was on tour back in 2009. He booked us to play a show in Tallahassee on Valentine’s Day. He asked us to get into town early so he could tattoo all of us, bought us a giant pizza in the shape of a heart, & then we all played a crazy show with tons of people. He refused to take our money for the tattoos and pizza, yet still gave us all the money from the door. This speaks to who Kane is as a person: selfless, kind, & genuine.
When we stayed with him, he showed us his sneaker collection & it absolutely blew my mind. His closet was FULL of Jordans and Air Maxes. I couldn’t believe it. Mind you, this was before the sneaker collecting spike that happened in the 2010’s, so he had those sneakers because he actually liked them, not to gain clout.
Even aside from sneakers, Kane has always been well-dressed & has an effortlessly cool style. He fits the Damiano vibe perfectly, so we were stoked when he agreed to model our Fall collection for us & talk to us about tattooing, bonsai trees, style, & what the word “quality” means to him.
Tell us the story behind you getting into tattooing. Were you into art growing up? What was the first medium you remember using where you were thinking that you wanted to do it for a career?
I started hanging out in the tattoo shop I learned at when I was in high school. To keep a long story short, they asked me to help out as an assistant for a few months, and I just never left. I always liked all kinds of art and always messed around with any medium I could try growing up. Drawing, painting, sculpture - I even consider skateboarding and playing music a form of art. Was into all of it when I was younger but I never really had an idea of what I wanted to do as far as a career.
I don’t really have a distinct moment where I remember having that feeling of knowing what I wanted to do for a living. I was so young and everything kind of fell perfectly into place with tattooing that I feel like I started my career before I even realized I did.
Earlier this year you had a showing of oil paintings you made over several years – when did you start oil painting? Aside from the obvious, how does oil painting differ from tattooing for you?
I started learning to oil paint in 2021 under Lorenzo Narciso. Oil painting is almost the complete opposite of a tattoo. Nothing is permanent and anything can be changed at any point in time. Paintings don’t change like tattoos do. Even down to subject matter. The things I want to tattoo and the things I want to paint are very different.
Smith Street really focuses on quality. Quality tattoos, merchandise and relationships. Can you speak on that and why it’s so important to y’all? What does quality mean to you?
Quality is everything. It’s like the foundation of a house, if you don’t have it you can’t build anything on it. Your products, your work, how you treat people, whatever you do is a reflection of you. Smith Street works as a team that really focuses on giving everyone who comes in the absolute best from every single one of us.
You used to have a crazy sneaker collection. What were some of your favorite pairs back then, either that you owned or that you wish you had owned? Do you have a favorite pair now?
I always loved the Animal Pack Air Max ones. My big bro Ed gave them to me for way less than he should have back in the day, I wore them and when I sold my collection, I made sure he got them back. He restored them and still wears them which I think is so raw.
I don’t keep up with shoes like I used to. It’s hard to say what my favorite pair is now, but I’ve been wearing my Nike Air Pegasus a lot lately.
In terms of your style, from my perspective you appear to dress so effortlessly, but always still put together & classic. How would you describe your personal style & how you go about choosing what to wear on a given day?
Nowadays I try to just keep it clean. Black or white tees or Smith Street gear. Black pants and black and white shoes. I’m a firm believer in “you can buy clothes but you can’t buy style.”
“Quality is everything. It’s like the foundation of a house; if you don’t have it you can’t build anything on it.”
I’d love for you to talk about growing bonsai – it’s a unique hobby and I think most people have no knowledge about any aspect of it. What drew you to growing bonsai? Why do you love it? What are some of the challenges that you experience with it? What has growing bonsai taught you?
Theres a billboard right outside of Tallahassee that I would see every time I drove to my grandparents house for a Bonsai Nursery. I had no clue what they even were but for some reason I felt like I really needed one. I ended up getting one when I was maybe thirteen or fourteen and killed it in like two weeks. I eventually gave it another go about six years ago and I’ve been committed since then.
Bonsai feels like the perfect blend of nature, art, and science. It’s an extremely challenging hobby that will test your devotion and patience but like most things in life what you put into it is what you get out of it.
How long have you been living in New York now? What about the city makes you want to stay there? Is there anywhere else you’d ever want to live?
I’m coming up on 7 years in Brooklyn. I moved to New York to work at Smith Street and it’s been without a doubt the best decision for my career and for me as a person that I ever could have made. I work at the best tattoo shop with the best crew in the best city in the world. There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.
“I’m a firm believer in ‘You can buy clothes, but you can’t buy style.’”
Photos by Reggie McCafferty