Kat Von D (born Katherine von Drachenberg on March 8, 1982 in Monterrey, Mexico) is an American tattoo artist and television personality. She is best known for her work as a featured tattoo artist on the TLC reality television show Miami Ink. A subsequent TLC series starring Von D, LA Ink, premiered August 7, 2007 in the United States and November 11, 2007 in the UK.

Kat Von D was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to Argentinean parents of Italian and German descent. She moved to Los Angeles at age 4 and grew up in the Inland Empire in Southern California. She credits the prominent Latino culture of Los Angeles as being a major influence in her art and style.

Kat was asked to work at tattoo ink when Darren Brass had broken his arm.  She had a falling out with Ami James which led to her leaving Miami Ink.

Kat owns her own make-up line on Sephora, and is the creator of the Musink festival. One of her eyeshadow colours is named, “Orbi” in her True Romance Eyeshadow Palette in Ludwig. She has a book compiling her artworks and tattoos, which was released in January 2009, called “High Voltage Tattoo”. The book traces von D’s career as an artist, from early childhood influences to recent work, along with examples of what inspires her, information about the show and her shop, her sketches, and personal tattoos. The book goes deep into tattoo process and culture: readers can see up close the pigments, the tools, and the making of complex, even collaborative, tattoos. In a January 2009 interview on Anytime with Bob Kushell, von D said about the book: “It’s not an autobiography, you know, ’cause I’m too young to do that. But this is just kind of like a picture driven outline of my career as an artist. So, you see everything from my drawings when I was six to tattoos that have never before been seen.” Kat married fellow tattoo artist Oliver Peck in 2003, but divorced in 2007. Since then she’s dated a number of notable rockers including Whitestarr drummer, Alex “Orbi” Orbison. Kat’s current best-selling book “High Voltage Tattoo” (published by Harper Collins) has a foreword by Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx, whom she dated in 2008, which she acknowledged in an October 2008 interview on KROQ-FM’s Kevin and Bean. On her television show, LA Ink, von D set a Guiness World Record of most tattoos given by a single person in 24 hours, with a total of 400.

Kat Von D was immortalized in the Eagles of Death Metal song “High Voltage”, which was named after her shop and is featured on their third album “Heart On”. In an interview, Eagles of Death Metal’s Jesse Hughes said, “I wrote that for Kat Von D, because that girl’s bad ass. I was spinning one night, Hollywood rolling, it was like five in the morning, she was still at her shop with a couple of people, her High Voltage shop, and I came rolling in, we had fun. I’m home by seven in the morning and I’m sitting thinking what a rad night that was. I love this job. Bomb, ‘High Voltage’, and then it came out”.

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