Editor’s Note: This story was initially published on March 23, 2009.

For the past 13 years, The Asylum, 111 Welch Ave., has been offering customers high quality tattoos and body art — and Hugo Kenemer has been there every step of the way.

Kenemer, who is both a co-owner and one of the shop’s three artists, says that kind of history is one of The Asylum’s biggest points of pride.

“There’s a lot of experience in this one shop compared to a lot of other shops,” he said.

And when you’re working with something as permanent as a tattoo, experience counts — especially when it comes to designing custom work.

“We get a lot of people in here who don’t know what they want,” Kenemer said.

So, it’s up to the artist to guide the customer, get the basics of their idea, flesh it out with examples, and ultimately create a final design.

It was exactly this process which got Kenemer into tattooing in the first place. He said he had always been artistic, but got his start while serving in the Marines by drawing tattoo designs for friends and accompanying them when they went to get inked.

“I just kinda fell into it,” Kenemer said.

But for a profession that he says he fell into, both Kenemer and his business have done well. A shelf running the length of the shop holds trophies that its artists have won at conventions and competitions. And then there’s the hallmark of success for a business owner: demand. Kenemer’s schedule is booked with appointments, so he fills in green color on a young woman’s arm as he is interviewed for this story, stopping only to talk and wipe away excess ink. And then it’s back to work, concentrating on the small patch of arm over the buzz of the machine.

The Asylum offers a full range of body art, from tattoos and piercings to more exotic art such as dermal anchors and branding.