Luke Wessman

Luke Wessman is an American tattoo artist and designer. He was featured on the TLC reality shows Miami Ink and NY Ink.

Early life Wessman was born on a communal farm in Tennessee where his parents had been living and working as part of a hippie community. Shortly after he was born, his family hitchhiked across America and settled in Oceanside, California, where Luke grew up.

Career Wessman received his first tattoo when he was sixteen-years-old from a family friend tattooing out of his house. He continued to acquire tattoos and eventually befriended a group of tattooers who had opened a shop named About Face Tattoo. It was the only shop in town because tattooing had been outlawed in San Diego County in the decades prior. Wessman began to learn a variety of tattoo styles at the shop, where the clientele included sailors, pimps, and prostitutes. In 2014, he was a guest judge on Spike TV's Ink Master. was featured on the cover of Freshly Inked, and has been profiled in several style magazines and websites, including GQ, The Coveteur, Bound by Ink, and Style.com, among others. In 2014, Wessman designed a limited-edition postcard featuring the phrase #govote for HeadCount, a nonpartisan organization that promotes participation in democracy. The postcards were distributed at music concerts, including Jay Z and Beyoncé's “On the Run” tour.

In 2015, Wessman opened The Summertown Inn, a private tattoo studio in an undisclosed location in Orange County. It's named after the town in Tennessee where he was born, and is fashioned after a speakeasy. There's no sign out front and clients come on a referral basis.

Wessman is also a Master Freemason and has been active in Freemasonry for over 5 years. He has tattooed dozens of celebrities, including Dave Navarro, CM Punk, Matt Holliday, and Silkk Tha Shocker, among others. Wessman himself has over 50 tattoos done by over 30 different artists.