Artist, entrepreneur and high profile vegan, Kat Von D is likely the world’s most celebrated tattoo artist. Von D is sharp, driven and consummately creative. She runs a wildly successful makeup empire, owns High Voltage Tattoo in Hollywood, has authored three best-selling books, and began her meteoric rise by starring in dual TV reality shows: Miami Ink and LA Ink.

Yet success and fame have not extinguished the childlike enthusiasm she shows for everything she puts her focus towards. Von D’s energetic passion is infectious.

Despite her ubiquitous tats and smouldering goth-goddess style, Von D is open-hearted and emanates a positive energy while also seriously committed to her beliefs. This integrity is exemplified in Kat Von D Beauty. She is justifiably proud of the vegan, cruelty-free makeup for which she has not sacrificed glamour for ethics, as the products are all highly-pigmented, long-lasting and replete with a provocative edge you’d expect from her.

Born Katherine Von Drachenberg in Mexico to Argentinian parents, who were missionaries that relocated to southern California when Kat was a toddler. She and her two siblings undertook classical piano lessons from her grandmother at an early age. Her devotion to music remains rabid to this day.

VF&L pursued the busily productive Von D to get her take on some of our burning questions. We cornered her between a short European tour with musician/artist IAMX (Kat sang backup vocals) and the international re-launch of her makeup line, commemorating its tenth anniversary. She is both delightful and deep…

What motivates you?

Animal rights is a driving force for me each and every day, and that includes the environment and human rights, too. I like to be a voice for the voiceless. And I totally love my cats! But I do try to inspire for change towards animals in my work.

On that topic, those principles remain at the forefront of your makeup…

Kat Von D Beauty is turning 10 years old, and from the beginning I refused to test on animals. We’re not owned by a corporation who tests on animals. I took my time getting registered with PETA and Leaping Bunny, but we did all of that. We don’t sell in China, because they insist all cosmetics be tested on animals. Despite it being a huge potential market for us over there I said ‘No. I won’t budge.’

Originally, all the products were not totally vegan. Soon after we launched we went through all the ingredients with a fine tooth-comb and replaced anything non-vegan with all vegan ingredients. We reformulated everything, which took time to claim the 100% vegan that we are and now will always be.

How did you transition into your current plant-based lifestyle? Was it gradual or a sudden change, as you’ve been an animal lover forever?

I had been a vegetarian for many years, then about five or six years ago I went vegan after seeing the documentary Forks Over Knives and I’ve never looked back. It was not that hard to do as I’d not been eating animals for so long and then eliminating all animal products was a natural step. Obviously, the benefits of veganism are so worthwhile.

I’ve always considered myself an animal lover, and I think most people see themselves as that, too. When it comes to the suffering of animals, I think everyone’s a vegan deep down inside. We’ll always side with choosing non-suffering for anything – any living being. The hard part, I think for many, is seeing past the normalization of it. It’s easy for us to be okay with certain things because it’s normal and everyone’s doing it. I think it’s our job – it’s
our duty as human beings – to question that and do what’s right. I like to say that ‘veganism IS consciousness.’

What do you think would surprise people about you, who don’t know you or have not seen your TV shows?

Probably that I talk a lot, I’m goofy, clumsy and silly. People assume because I’m inked that I’m tough, but I’m so not. I wouldn’t hurt a fly.

When you have time, what hobbies do you like?

When I can relax I tend to do creative things, making stuff with my hands, gardening. (She has a black flower garden at her quirky, antique-crammed LA home.) I also like making music.

You collect Victorian ephemera?

Yes, I love antiques of all kinds and I collect old bibles and books. They do contain leather and that pains me, but I won’t purchase any new item made from animals. My own three books were made to look like embossed leather. I won’t throw away my old leather books on an historic or waste-conscious level.

You have a vegan shoe line launching this year and you also own a very diverse shoe collection, with more than 400 pairs…

I really adore shoes, some might call it an obsession, and I lost count of how many I’ve got. But I do wear everything that I own that actually fits. I bought a lot of them second hand on eBay. Plus, I can claim that having all those shoes helped me research for the upcoming line.

Did you develop a shoe obsession as a reaction to your childhood, as you grew up in a household of quite modest means?

Growing up I was actually a huge fan of Carmen Miranda (‘40s film star). She was responsible for introducing the platform shoe to America. I got a tattoo of her and then got inspired to start curating my wardrobe of platform shoes from that point on. Platform shoes are so sculptural and they make your feet look great. I’m so inspired by artists in general.

You began tattooing at the age of just 14 and then went on to become a celebrity in your 20s. What has fame taught you?

That no matter what project or business venture I’m involved in, it all goes back to tattooing. That’s my life. It all grows from that.

You have so many different projects on the go simultaneously, lots of responsibilities with your business ventures. How do you manage to keep on top of everything?

It’s all my grandma’s fault, she was a strict disciplinarian and we had to practice piano lessons two hours every day, despite wanting to be outside playing with other kids. It gave me the ability to always finish the projects I start. I’m sort of a workaholic, so I like to work, maybe a little too much.

What philosophy would you say sums you up?

It’s kind of two fold: My philosophy is that self-confidence is a really magical thing. Since I’ve learnt to stop thinking too much about what others think, my art has improved. And the other thing is that at my core I’m all about love. Love is my higher power. Family is my strength. Art is my passion.

CREDIT:
Vegan Food And Living

Make sure to check out the rest of the Muse videos on Kat Von D Beauty Youtube!

This one is very dear to my heart as Ashley was the founder of my first fan club! Meant so much to me to include her in this campaign! Love you, Ash-Bear!

 

Home > PAPARAZZI > 2018 > March 30th

Exclusive Interview: Kat Von D and IAMX

I sat down with Kat Von D and IAMX (formally known as Chris Corner) at the Electric Ballroom in Camden last week. Fans were waiting patiently outside the venue four hours before opening time to see both IAMX and Kat perform live.

For people who don’t know you please tell me about yourselves

C- I’m running this project as IAMX, which is my solo music project! It’s electronic-rock! I’ve been doing this for a while now and I just released an album.

K- I don’t really like the word artist but I create things with my hands, with my mind and with my heart from tattooing, writing books and designing! I play music as well and I’m an animal rights activist 

How did you get started in music? Who was your inspiration when you were younger

C- my weird old uncle used to play me strange music at the time and he really bombarded me with this guy called David Sylvian! I didn’t grow up listening to pop music and from an early age I was really interested in experimental music. I think that got me really interested in production

If you could tour the album, where would you go?

K- we’re in London so really Chris should say London

C- Los Angeles probably!

So Los Angeles would be your favourite city to play?

C- it is actually! I know a lot of people complain about LA and think LA people are dead inside

K- they do?

C- I’ve had people say that! Maybe they haven’t been getting the right reaction! I love playing in LA; it’s ridiculous and cool! I don’t know if it would be my favourite city but it’s one of them!

K – I’d be happy playing in my living room but one thing I’ve noticed about ever since we’ve done this music thing together is that Chris’s fans are so aggressive in a great way! They’re so hyper and it’s been really neat to see the reaction from different countries and how excited they are for the next stop on the tour! I’ve always been appreciative of that because I think it’s important to be a fan of music!

C- they are beautiful fans for sure!

What can the fans expect from the shows?

C- a lot of loud beats, sweaty music and Kat Von D dancing around possibly in bare feet.

K- Yep definitely

C- Lots of people probably grabbing my balls… sometimes that happens!

K- Really? It’s so strange for people to grab your balls

C- I don’t mind, people get very excited and it’s like the only time I get out the house so it’s basically one big party for me!

Kat you’re well known for creating amazing tattoos and for your cosmetic range and many other things, How did you become involved in the album and I understand tonight this will be the first time you will be performing live in London, how excited are you for this?

K – I’ve been a long time fan of Chris and his music and I do this thing on instagram where I’ll shoot some really interesting looking videos and I like to put music of bands that I really love to inspire other people to listen to bands outside of the box! I’m sick and tired of whatever music is shoved down our throats on a daily basis through the radio! My followers are keen on the music playlists and I had used an IAMX song and Chris got wind of it! We met up in LA at my house to discuss the possibility of working together and I think for both of us It was very important that we had good chemistry and got along because It doesn’t matter how cool you are, if you’re an asshole I don’t want to work with you and lucky for me Chris is awesome! It just made sense to collaborate.

C- Bury yourself, working fucking hard and you have to have an unstoppable drive! You have to care about what you do! If you don’t care, you won’t get anywhere and don’t search for money because It will come if you do what you love!  What advice would you give to people who would like a career like yours?

K- I would just say don’t listen to the dream crushers and don’t listen to anybody who tells you, it’s unrealistic to do something! I think art comes in so many different forms.

What do you both miss about being away from home?

K- My cats…duh

C- my dog 

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

C- still working on that! We both connect on ‘living in the present’ and I know Kat has a business empire that she probably has to plan but I think we both go day-to-day and week-by-week.

CREDIT: Sophie Bird for flavourmag.co.uk

IAMX brings Kat Von D on tour “I see the amount of unstoppable drive in her and I see myself”

Chris Corner AKA IAMX has just released his newest LP Alive In New Light(AINL) on the 2nd of February. In his brand new work he captures a sense of metamorphosis, an invitation to the next phase in IAMX’s dark journey of self-discovery. Appearing on four tracks and along for the tour is the brilliant and super popular tattoo and make up powerhouse, Kat Von D.

On Saturday 3rd of March IAMX is getting ready to perform in London accompanied with the sultry tones of Kat Von D, but a few hours prior the show we get to meet both artists to have a chat regarding what will be a very interesting and winning collaboration.

IAMX: It’s really good. It’s always a bit bumpy in the beginning because you make a lot of mistakes and you get sick and your body re-adjust to this lifestyle which is quite an extreme lifestyle if you don’t go out much like me. In normal life I just don’t do anything (laughs). So far it’s been wonderful and the shows and the people have been wonderful. It’s really nice to have Kat here as well, it really adds a ray of sunshine to the whole thing.RAMzine: You are currently doing a tour in support of the release of your brand new album Alive In New Light, how’s that going so far?

RAMzine: While you were writing the lyrics what was your main source of inspiration?

IAMX: My own psychology, it’s quite a selfish process but it’s definitely an album about becoming more at one with yourself and with the world, becoming more uplifted by being alive and accepting who you are. That’s pretty much the lyrical inspiration. My interest in the deeper, darker emotions will always be there, although I don’t know sometimes I think I am too emotional but maybe in fact I am not emotional enough and doing these records actually helped me to motivate my emotions.

RAMzine: Kat, you are a multi-talented woman and you seem to excel in everything you do, are you planning to get more involved within the music business in the near future?

KAT VON D: Thank you for those complements! I’ve been playing music since I was five years old in the classical music world. And then I had written and recorded an album years ago that I will finally be releasing this year, so yeah definitely! I’m excited about giving music a bigger part of my life.

RAMzine: How did the collaboration with Kat happen and are you guys happy with the outcome so far?

KAT VON D: Miserable (laughs).

IAMX: It’s all shit (laughs). How did that happen? I was made aware of the fact that Kat had posted a very beautiful slow motion video of herself falling backwards to one of my songs. So I got really excited and we had management contact Kat to see if she was interested in doing something together. I mean I didn’t even know she was musical at the time, basically because I just don’t go online. I don’t really do this whole social media thing. Then I found out she was a great pianist and that she had a beautiful voice, so I got even more excited. When she said she would have been interested, we finally met. I went to her beautiful house in LA, full of creepy objects and a black garden. She eventually came to the studio and it all went pretty smoothly, no dramas.

RAMzine: What can we expect from your live performance?

IAMX: Just mind blowing sexual energy and sweat and craziness. Whenever I get that question I’m like I don’t know what do you expect? What do fans expect? I know what I’m gonna give. It’s definitely high energy performance. It’s gonna be different injecting Kat to the system, I don’t how much I am gonna jump around or if she’s gonna jump around. We haven’t done a lot of rehearsals together so it’s gonna be more spontaneous and fun I guess.

RAMzine: In the brand new video ‘Stardust’ that just came out yesterday, you really captured the darkness mixed with the live experience and the beauty of it all, how did you put together this piece of visual art?

KAT VON D: He did such a great job to capture the sentiment of the song, I remember when he told me about the video he said ‘I want you to shave Janine’s head’ and I said ‘O my God that’s the coolest thing ever’, because I felt like that was already such a rough around the edges idea and I think my biggest challenge was being as aggressive because it’s not in my nature to be aggressive. Janine was such a star player, seeing her face in the shots while she’s being OK with having this symbol of female being ripped away is just on another level. It was really powerful, I think she was my favourite part of the music video.

RAMzine: Kat, what’s the best memory you’ve created with Chris so far?

KAT VON D: It’s really cool to have made a friend out of this. I like that one time in which we were texting each other narring an entire video through emojis (laughs). I think we share a similar sense of humour so there are a lot of laughters, in a good way, like laughing about dark shit. I’ve always been a do-it-yourself person, I’ve always cut out the middle man. It’s like when I was writing my second book I thought I have to learn how shoot photos and deal with visual cameras so even watching him making the ‘Stardust’ music video made me really appreciate the fact that there was an intense amount of work that he puts into everything. I’ve always felt like the more you understand the process the more you are a part of that and the more you manage to make things more beautiful. It’s refreshing to see somebody working the same way that I do.

IAMX: I think that’s why we click. I see the amount of unstoppable drive in her and I see myself and I see a real connection there.

KAT VON D: Exactly. I don’t have an appreciation for dreamers, I mean I have dreams, but I have an appreciation for executors, people who do things and Chris is definitely on that. Plenty of times people asked me to be part of projects but it’s all like hopes and dreams. I have no interest entertaining that or wasting time. I have an x amount of heartbeats in this lifetime and I want to invest them wisely. So it’s exciting to work with somebody that is on the same level.

RAMzine: Can you tell us anything about your future plans?

IAMX: Let’s see how tonight goes uh? (laughs). I think each thing we have done so far has happened pretty much spontaneously and I like life like that. I wanna live now.

CREDIT: Claudia Mancino for ramzine.co.uk

Home > SCREENCAPS > Kat von D Beauty > Saint & Sinner Video

@IAMX TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED! Swipe to see dates I’ll be singing on stage w @iamx! But be warned, tickets are selling out – so get yours before it’s too late! *ps. hoping to possibly add a few dates if schedule allows – keep you posted! #iamx #AINL #AliveInNewLight

NORTH AMERICA
APRIL
21st – Brooklyn, NY at Rough Trade [SOLD OUT]
22nd – Brooklyn, NY at Rough Trade

MAY
7th – San Francisco, CA at GAMH
9th – Los Angeles, CA at Fonda Theatre

LATIN AMERICA
MAY 24th – Mexico City, MX at Lunario

EUROPE
MARCH
3rd – London, UK at Electric Ballroom
5th – Paris, FR at La Machine
6th – Madrid, ES at Sala But

You can check out more info and get your tickets at https://www.musicglue.com/IAMX

GIVEAWAY One lucky winner will win this one-of-a-kind #vegan leather jacket [in your size!] hand-painted by me just for you!

For your chance to win, all you have to do is:
•Follow @iamx
•Re-post either images from this post
•Tag @iamx + @thekatvond
•Tell us what your favourite song from the new @iamx album [Alive In New Light] is, and why, in your caption!

@iamx will select + announce the winner on Friday at 12pm [PST]

This giveaway is open internationally to anyone + everyone! Good luck!

If you haven’t heard by now, Kat von D is featured on 4 songs of IAMX new album “Alive In New Light which released February 02, 2018. There are many ways to get this album. Scroll down on how to get your copy!

ORDER ‘Alive In New Light’ on http://musicglue.com/iamx
SUBSCRIBE on youtube: http://tinyurl.com/iamxytsub & Spotify: http://tinyurl.com/iamxspotify

Follow IAMX on
Website: http://iamxmusic.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/IAMXofficial
Twitter: http://twitter.com/IAMX
Instagram: http://instagram.com/IAMX
VK: http://vk.com/IAMX
Webshop: http://musicglue.com/IAMX
Newsletter: http://iamx.fanbridge.com

This isn’t Kat’s first time lending her voice! She has also been featured on:

Rosary Blue by The 69 Eyes (2012)

available on iTunes: X

Black Leather by Prayers (2016)

available on iTunes: http://bit.ly/BLACKLEATHER / More @ http://www.chologoth.com/

CHECK OUT ALL KVD LYRICS HERE