Seen enough Ed Hardy yet? A memoir is coming

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Tattooist Ed Hardy, whose name adorns a near-ubiquitous clothing brand (and has expanded to other products, including wine) has signed a deal to write a memoir.

Born in Newport Beach, Hardy got a degree in printmaking at San Francisco Art Institute in 1967 while he was apprenticing as a tattoo artist. In 1973 Hardy went to Japan to study with a traditional tattoo master. ‘I’ve been drawing obsessively since the age of three and have always been interested in people’s stories and the stories that pictures tell,’ he wrote in his 1999 book ‘Tattooing the Invisible Man.’

Hardy has published a number of books -- with his wife he founded Hardy Marks Publications in 1982, which has published books of tattoo and other art.

To write his memoir, which will be published by Thomas Dunne Books, Hardy’s team has enlisted the help of Joel Selvin, co-author of Sammy Hagar’s ‘Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.’ Hagar’s book was a surprise No. 1 bestseller when it came out in March.

In ‘Tattooing the Invisible Man,’ Hardy also wrote, ‘I took up the practice [of tattooing] out of a combination of economic necessity and artistic curiosity.’ These days, that ‘economic necessity’ part is probably not as pressing as it once was: The Ed Hardy retail business, which was licensed by Christian Audigier in 2004, now has more than $700 million in annual sales.

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-- Carolyn Kellogg

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