Oregon Coast Waves - 1.6 January 2021

A PASSION FOR PIERCING
Ago Tattoo and Piercing owner still excited to get to work
t usually doesn’t take long for Ago Tattoo and Piercing
owner Nathan Morelli to steer a conversation with a
stranger into an in-depth personal soliloquy on body art.
That’s because saying that Morelli is passionate about his craft
is the ultimate understatement.
Morelli is a former competitive bodybuilder and Portland-area
native. After setting up shop with a partner about 13 years ago,
Morelli bought out the tattoo portion of Crazy Eights Tattoo
from his initial partner, and Morelli’s been the sole proprietor
of Ago Tattoo and Piercing at 1164 SW Coast Highway, Suite
D, for about the five years.
“It became entirely a piercing studio for about five minutes
there, but we hired two amazing (tattoo) artists to work here in
the studio, which is really cool,” Morelli said.
After graduating high school in 2007, Morelli found himself
working three jobs to make ends meet and to build his savings.
He says he worked at a McDonald’s in the mornings and on
rotating days also worked in a Safeway deli and machine shop.
Morelli managed to save enough to put himself through
piercing school, while keeping the machine shop gig.
“That was kind of the transition point where I ditched most
of the jobs, and then I really just fell in love with piercing,”
he said. “It took over my entire life at that point. I think
most of us are kind of dumb and start piercing and tattooing
themselves before 18, but everything I did I fell in love with it
a little more, and started thinking about how I wanted to do it
better. It really just kind of evolved from there.”
In devising a potential business model, Morelli found most
central coast residents traveled to Salem, Corvallis, Eugene or
Portland to receive high-quality tattoo or piercing work. He
then set his focus on setting up shop in Newport, though he’d
yet to visit.
WRITTEN BY MICHAEL HEINBACH | PHOTOS BY: JEREMY BURKE