Chaos to Canvas: My Experience at the Miami Allstars Tattoo Convention

I’m so proud of my Skin Design family and forever grateful to be part of the tattoo community.

This past weekend was insane. Me, Linh, Reena, Amanda, and Nigel all made our way to the Miami Allstars Tattoo Convention—another opportunity to connect and make memories.

It always reminds me why I do what I do. Reminds me that it’s all worth it.

It’s been a hard couple of months. A challenging year, really.

Between all the Skin Design shops (with a new one coming in Nashville), working on my upcoming book, finalizing everything to wrap up tattooing on the mainland, mentoring emerging artists, and having to move into a new home—I’ve had a lot going on, both in and out of the studio.

That’s the life of an artist and entrepreneur. You either take the pressure or you crumble beneath the weight of it.

It can be hard to focus on what really matters when you’re being pulled in a million different directions. It takes a lot out of you.

But this tattoo expo was a chance to center myself, even with all the chaos going on. Being behind the needle, creating art—it’s when I feel like I’m the most myself. It's almost like therapy to me.

Surrounded by artists, family, and some of my closest friends, it shows me the truth: That everything happens for a reason.

That we’re a part of a bigger plan. God’s always looking out for us, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

That’s not to say the convention wasn’t chaotic, too.

Sometimes it feels like nothing in my life is ever simple; nothing is ever smooth. But that can be half of the fun—seeing where life takes you.

For a second, I didn’t think we were even going to get to go, didn’t think there would be enough time. But, last minute, we pulled the crew together.

There was no time for design, to prepare. We just had to wing it, day of. We didn’t even bring anyone to enter; we booked our own clients outside of the expo.

Linh and I collabed on a partial backpiece. Everything felt rushed—but that’s ended up not being a bad thing. Just like a lot of times, some of our best work happens when it all comes down to the wire like that.

I flew into Miami a day earlier than Linh, planning to start mapping out the design on my own. But it’s like my body is fighting back against the constant traveling—I ended up with another migraine when I landed. I felt so sick, all I could do was rest in my hotel room.

Linh had an appointment until midnight in New York, and she flew out that next morning within just a few hours of the expo. She landed and went straight to my hotel room so we could finally work on the design.

Somehow, we pulled through. We have that dynamic when we work together; we always make it happen. She has that same drive that I do, that same intensity behind her art.

The first day, the expo started at noon—we were barely able to make it by 2 pm. Even though we were late, I was relieved we could make it at all.

We grinded for three days straight. It felt like nonstop. Our collab was on a previous client of ours, Leia, typically someone more sensitive to the pain. Before this event, eight hours was about her max.

But here? She sat like a rock. Day after day after day—over twenty hours. She was a beast. I’m so thankful for clients like her, who let us show up, do what we love, and trust us enough to leave our mark.

Life happens (it felt like a theme throughout the event), and she showed up just a little too late to enter the competition. But we don’t do this for recognition.

We do this for the clients we serve. Because we love making art. We love hearing your stories, sharing a piece of ours, and helping you immortalize your life, your legacy, through ink.

And I couldn’t be more proud of how Linh not only showed up for our collab, but that she was able to bring home gold of her own in the portrait category. With everything that happened, it was an unexpected win.

She almost didn’t even enter. The client we were tattooing had a bunch of nice work on her, “While you’re here, want to sign up and see what happens?”

Life likes to surprise you like that, to reward you when you least expect it.

She’s come so far, from my apprentice to co-owner of SDT SoHo. It’s stories like hers that keep me motivated, keep me grinding, even it feels like my body is begging me to slow down.

“Our girl Linh, she won an award. It was one of those things where she almost didn’t want to do it and it ended up being first place—funny how it all worked out.”

— Reena Pho

To this day—the work that Linh creates? It still blows my mind.

And to have my baby girl, Reena, there too? It was such a trip.

Reena and Nigel worked on their own back piece. It’s been so rewarding to watch them grow, both together and separately—as an artist and as a dad.

Each time they compete, their art matches that energy, that commitment they have for what we do.

“Usually, we’ll both put something together—see what he likes, see what I like—and play with it together from there. This year, he was designing something and at the very last minute, we both decided to scrap it. Literally the night before. Then he pulled out a design he made months and months ago as a back up. The one we picked definitely was both our styles and something we did really well at for this event.

We both had more fun with it, we both had more confidence in ourselves, in getting it done. It worked out the way it had to, the way it was meant to. We work pretty well together; we’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s our third or fourth collab. It’s just fun, we’re like best friends.”

— Reena Pho

The Allstars Experience

The Miami Allstars Tattoo Convention really knows how to bring good vibes.

“The performances that they had and all the things they had going on—it was really crazy. They had Emilio suspended by his skin. I was tattooing it and watching from the screen like ‘this is not real, this is crazy.’ The performances they had were really cool.

It was my first time doing it in Miami and some of the guys said it was their favorite expo. They really look out for their artists, more than some of the other ones do. We had some really great artists on our team this year; it was really cool seeing everyone come together. Really good energy.”

— Reena Pho

It was such a fun experience, different from all the other conventions I’ve been to.

Different from last year’s Allstars Expo, too.

Last year’s Miami Allstars Convention was epic, in a league of its own.

Emilio Gonzalez—a legend in the body modification scene—really brought the whole thing together.

He’d been doing shows in Venezuela for around two decades before this, and he really made his first U.S. competition stand out.

He went all out. It was so next level, a different type of vibe. I’ve been bragging to people about them for the past year.

Just being there, you could feel the respect they had for artists, the way they catered to them. They really did it right.

They brought together artists from all over the world – heavy hitters like Shane O'Neill, Yomico, Steve Butcher, Fonzy, Darwin Enriquez, Flaks — so many icons in one space. Artists with serious weight in the industry.

There were so many people I looked up to, so much creativity and respect. It was a huge venue, and they filled it with so many heavy hitters in every row, every aisle.

They had TV crews, magazines like Tattoo Society, the local news, so many interviews going on.

It was so humbling to have Skin Design be a part of such a landmark event. We were in one of the best rooms, right at the main entrance. Right when you walked in you’d see us, right next to Dynamic Color.

The year before, at the New York Empire State Tattoo Expo, Emilio gave me a golden ticket inviting me to be a judge at the Miami convention.

Getting to be a part of that was such an honor. Getting to judge four of the competitions, next to game-changing artists like Robert Hernandez, was surreal. You felt good being there, felt special even after you left.

To me, it felt like a competition hosted by artists, for artists.

And, even with all the changes between the 2023 and 2024 Allstars Expo, that’s one thing that felt the same.

And getting to tattoo alongside my daughter—it feels like a full circle moment. I get to see, firsthand, how much she learns from each competition. How much it helps every member of the team who gets to go grow as an artist.

“We’ve only been doing this for three years, but every time, we pick up something new to try next time. This year, it’s starting to really click. So maybe next time, we bring something home.”

— Reena Pho

I can’t help but feel a mixture of emotions with another expo in the books.

With how next year is looking, I don’t know how often I’ll make it off the island. There are so many projects to take care of here.

Things are changing. And with the book release—it’s hard to predict how many expos I’ll get to go to.

I’ve already had conversations with people on the SDT team, talking about who’s going to lead the team next year, who’s going to carry on those traditions, those values.

But I know, we’ve got this. No matter where I am—SDT is a family built around the pillars of integrity, loyalty, and respect. We have so many talented, upcoming artists; this is just the beginning for us.

We’ve got this.

I just hope I get to meet with and create art for as many of you on the mainland as I can before next year rolls around.

Let’s make it happen—you can send me an email at robert@robertpho.com