Aaron Ulfstam said his clients were a driving force in his decision to return to work two days after the fire.
DENVER — A Denver tattoo artist lost nearly everything when a fire tore through his Aurora condo earlier this month — but found refuge at the place he has called a second home for 13 years.
Aaron Ulfstam, a tattoo artist at Dedication Tattoo in Denver, was asleep when the emergency unfolded around 3:45 a.m.
“It was like 3:45-4 in the morning, and we heard a shaking at the window,” Ulfstam said. “I part the curtain, and there is just flames.”
Ulfstam said the fire started in a trash can outside his building. Living on the second floor, he said he had little time to react.
“I wasn’t expecting to see that,” he said. “We are on the second floor, so grabbed the cats, grabbed the wife, just got out, called the fire department.”
Standing outside the burning building, Ulfstam said his mind raced with uncertainty.
“How long is it going to take? Are they going to get it contained? What neighbors are going to be affected?” he said.
It did not take long before Ulfstam and his wife realized they would not be returning to their condo. The couple stayed with his wife’s family following the fire.
“We kind of knew, like, alright, it’s getting to be a little more serious. We are probably not going back,” Ulfstam said.
With most of his belongings gone, Ulfstam took two days before returning to work.
“And then Sunday I was like, I’ve got appointments, I’m going in,” he said.
Ulfstam said his clients were a driving force in that decision.
“I knew the people on my schedule that day — like I’m doing a cover up, they got a wedding coming up, I’m doing somebody’s first big tattoo — so as few people as I could disappoint and just get back to what I like, the better,” he said.
Ulfstam helped open Dedication Tattoo in 2013 and has worked there ever since.
“I’ve just been here for the long haul, 13 years now,” he said.
He said returning to the shop gave him something he desperately needed: routine and familiarity.
“This is my comfort zone. Get back into work and make some tattoos. Do what feels normal as much as it can,” Ulfstam said. “Just to have something a little more routine, you know what I mean?”
Even with most of his possessions gone, Ulfstam said the shop and the people in it have kept him moving forward.
“I’m like, just keep going, I don’t know. Nothing else to do. Can’t just sit there and be bummed,” he said.
He said the bond between himself and his colleagues at Dedication Tattoo has been a source of strength during the hardest days.
“We all know each other. We have been involved for so long that it’s just like, ya, we are all going through something, so we can all support each other through,” Ulfstam said.
Despite the loss, Ulfstam said the passion that has kept him behind the needle for more than a decade remains.
“I think there is just something still magical about it,” he said.
Dedication Tattoo is planning a flash tattoo day to help Ulfstam and his family.
