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Ephemeral
Company typePrivate
HeadquartersBrooklyn, New York
Key people
Jeffrey Liu (CEO)
ProductsTattoos
Websiteephemeral.tattoo

Ephemeral is a tattoo company whose tattoos fade in 9 to 15 months.[1][2]

Technology

News outlets, including Agence France-Presse, Forbes, and Dazed, report that Ephemeral’s tattoos are the first of the “made-to-fade” kind.[3][4][5] The tattoos fade 9 to 15 months after they've been applied, depending on an individual’s body chemistry.[6][7]

Ephemeral tattoos are applied in the same way as a permanent tattoo, with a mechanized needle that injects ink into the skin.[8] What's different is the ink.

Permanent tattoos produce large pools of ink that clump together.[8] Since the human body can't process big particles, the particles sit underneath the skin and the tattoo remains forever.[9]

By contrast, Ephemeral’s ink is made of bioabsorbable polymer particles that break down over time;[1] they get smaller and smaller until they dissolve naturally through the blood.[10]

Product

Ephemeral tattoos cost $195 to $550, depending on the size and detail.[11]

As of August 2022, tattoos are available only in black,[12] with a maximum diameter of five inches,[9] and the company does not tattoo hands or feet[13] (because these locations haven't been fully tested).[14]

Rather than sell Ephemeral ink through traditional tattoo shops, the company owns and operates its own shops.[15]

History

Ephemeral was founded by five friends at New York University (NYU): Seung Shin, Vandan Shah, Joshua Sakhai, Brennal Pierre, and Anthony Lam.[16] The cofounders grew up in households where tattoos were taboo.[4][17]

As chemical engineers who specialize in protein engineering, Pierre and Shah invented Ephemeral’s ink.[14] At the time (2014), Pierre was an adjunct professor and Shah was a PhD candidate at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering.[14]

Their work began when a mutual friend, Seung Shin, was undergoing the process to have a tattoo removed.[8][18][19] Shin wanted to know if it was possible to remove the tattoo with an enzyme,[14] and so Pierre and Shah spent the next seven years developing an ink that would be broken down by the body’s natural mechanism.[17] The cofounders tested prototypes on themselves.[20]

In 2015, Ephemeral won first place in the $200K Entrepreneurs Challenge,[19][21] an annual competition hosted by NYU’s Stern School of Business.

In 2016, Inc. (magazine) named the company the Coolest College Startup.[16][22]

In 2021, after videos of people getting Ephemeral tattoos became popular on TikTok,[23][11][24] the company raised $20 million in Series A funding.[1] The same year, it opened its first store, in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.[12][25]

Ephemeral has since opened stores in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta.[9]

Leadership

Jeffrey Liu is the company’s CEO.[26] Cofounders Vandan Shah and Brennal Pierre are, respectively, the vice president of engineering and the chief technology officer.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c Joshua, Josyana (July 7, 2021). "'Tattoo for a Year' Startup Inks a $20 Million Funding Round". Bloomberg. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  2. ^ Wilson, Mark (March 16, 2021). "Would you get a tattoo that fades in a year? Ephemeral is banking on it". Fast Company. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  3. ^ "New York startup aims to leave a mark with ephemeral tattoos". Agence France-Presse. April 27, 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b Reynolds, Emma (March 25, 2021). "Ephemeral Tattoo, The First-Ever Made-To-Fade Tattoo Company, Rethinks The Traditional Tattoo Parlor". Forbes. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  5. ^ King, Olivia (February 15, 2021). "Ephemeral's made-to-fade tattoos will change the industry forever". Dazed. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  6. ^ Neilson, Laura (April 9, 2021). "Fleeting by Design: In Brooklyn, a First-of-Its-Kind Tattoo Studio Ensures No Regrets". Vogue. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  7. ^ "I Got a Made To Fade Tattoo". Refinery29. March 9, 2022. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Wilson, Mark (August 10, 2021). "How the cofounders of Ephemeral reinvented tattoos to make them last just a year". Fast Company. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Atlanta, Ellen (May 27, 2022). "You'll Never Regret an Ephemeral Tattoo". Paper Magazine. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  10. ^ Gabrielle, Lex (July 16, 2021). "The Truth About Made-To-Fade Tattoos". The List. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  11. ^ a b Heinrich, Shelby (June 10, 2022). "You Can Now Get Tattoos That Fade After A Year For Less Than $200, So We Did It And Here's Everything You Need To Know". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  12. ^ a b Castanon, Kelsey (April 6, 2022). "I Got a "Made-to-Fade" Tattoo: See How It Disappeared Over Time". PopSugar. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  13. ^ Thorne, Gabi (May 12, 2021). "Semipermanent Tattoos That Disappear in a Year Now Exist". Allure. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  14. ^ a b c d Krueger, Alyson (October 15, 2021). "Why Do You Tattoo?". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  15. ^ Sternlicht, Alexandra (January 23, 2022). "Women-Led Enterprise Tech Nets $45 Million, Semi-Permanent Tattoos: The Latest In Under 30". Forbes. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  16. ^ a b Ball, Helena (April 7, 2016). "This Startup Wants You to Never Regret Getting a Tattoo". Inc. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  17. ^ a b Brandeis, Amanda (April 26, 2022). "Made to fade within a year, innovative tattoo ink guarantees customers a clean slate". KSTU (Fox). Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  18. ^ "Making the Permanent (Tattoos) Ephemeral". New York University. May 18, 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  19. ^ a b Levison, Kendall (April 16, 2016). "NYU Startup Makes Tattoos Commitment-Free". Washington Square News. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  20. ^ Marsh, Natasha (October 1, 2021). "Ephemeral Tattoo Is the First Made-to-Fade Tattoo Studio". Byrdie. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  21. ^ "With "Temporary" Tattoo Ink, No More Ragrets". NYU Local. September 16, 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  22. ^ Faber, Emily (July 15, 2021). "Now, your tattoos can match your mood with the help of this made-to-fade ink". WJLA-TV (ABC). Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  23. ^ Sangih-Kurtz, Sangeeta (October 13, 2021). "Afraid of Commitment? Try a Temporary Tattoo". New York. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  24. ^ "Air travel way up during July Fourth weekend". The Boston Globe. July 7, 2021. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  25. ^ Decker, Megan (February 23, 2022). "This Made-To-Fade Tattoo Sounded Sexy — So I Tried It". Refinery29. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  26. ^ Park, Michelle (May 25, 2022). "Regret Nothing At Ephemeral Tattoo". NBC. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  27. ^ "Ephemeral Tattoo Overview". PitchBook Data. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
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