A Southern California native born in 1945, Don Ed Hardy revived a childhood determination to become a tattoo artist and underwent a tattoo apprenticeship while simultaneously receiving a B.F.A. degree in printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1967. Tattooing professionally since then, he developed the fine art potential of the medium with emphasis on its Asian heritage. In 1973 he lived in Japan, studying with a traditional tattoo master – the first non-Asian to gain access to that world. He resumed these studies in Japan throughout the 1980s. Since 1974 he pioneered the emphasis on unique tattoo commissions at his San Francisco studio.
In 1982 he and his wife, Francesca Passalacqua, formed Hardy Marks Publications and have written, edited and published over twenty-five books on alternative art. They moved their primary household to Honolulu in 1987, where Hardy resumed painting, drawing, and printmaking. He maintains the studio Tattoo City in San Francisco, with younger artists continuing to evolve and carry on his unique work format. Hardy’s primary focus is on creating and exhibiting works in more traditional mediums, including porcelain painting. He began developing this body of work in 2006 in a traditional Japanese setting.
Ed Harry’s name has since been reduced to the rhinestone-emblazoned emblem of L.A. excess. For that you can thank marketing shark Christian Audigier, an L.A.-based French entrepreneur who first brought the world Von Dutch trucker hats, then licensed Hardy’s name in 2004. He soon opened a flagship clothing store on Melrose, eventually stamping everything from guitar picks to tanning lotion with Ed Hardy designs. He boosted visibility and sales by dressing his famous friends in the brand; 50 Cent once played his birthday party and, in 2007, Kim Kardashian West appeared on his runway. Audigier sold the line in 2011 for an astonishing $62 million.
Hardy wasn’t a fan of Audigier, once describing him as the “ground zero of everything wrong with contemporary culture,” but the lucrative deal allowed him time off to paint, even as his street cred dwindled—along with, allegedly, his cut of the profits. In 2009, Hardy filed a $100 million lawsuit accusing Audigier of underreporting sales and manipulating his imagery in violation of the terms of their contract. The parties reached a settlement, and Hardy has since partnered with another company to reboot his brand overseas, particularly in Asia.
Despite its tarnished legacy, Ed Hardy could once be spotted on the highest echelon of celebrities. A whole plethora of A-list stars matched their fake tans and flared jeans to Hardy's t-shirts, including Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Adrien Brody, and Jessica Alba. These high-profile names no doubt helped lift the Hardy label to iconic status. But what goes up must come down, and now only photos exist to remind us of this skull-studded moment.
Personally I still love the brand - I have a cap with the tiger, a bottle of cologne, an iPad cover and a very questionable pair of jeans with black panthers embroidered on the backside - ha!
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