James hopes that what he has been doing on reality television for the past seven years or so will spread a more positive perception of people with tattoos.

"It's important that people give it a chance and not just think it's something negative, a taboo, before even entering a tattoo shop," he says.

James was in Hong Kong last week for the opening of LAB Concept in Admiralty's Queensway Plaza. He has designed a tattoo logo for the department store and wine-and-dine space that targets a young and hip crowd.

At the party, guests lined up for a temporary tattoo of his design and an autograph.

Born in Israel, James moved to Miami when he was 12 years old. During his teenage years, he hung out with the "punk kids" in his neighbourhood and they began tattooing each other.

Eventually, it evolved into a passion and a form of artistic expression for him as he became obsessed with the idea of painting on human skin.

"By the time I was 21, I knew all I wanted to do was tattooing for the rest of my life," says James. "If you have a painting hanging in somebody's house, the only people that are going to see it are the people who are invited to your house. When you do tattoos, when you put a sleeve or a back tattoo on somebody, millions of people throughout his or her life will see that piece of art. It's fascinating."

Already a famous tattoo artist in Miami, in 2005 James was tracked down by TLC to shoot , the reality television show based in his tattoo parlour Love Hate Tattoo. The show became one of the lifestyle television network's most popular productions. in June last year he had his contract renewed for a spin-off for his Wooster St Social Club in SoHo for , with a second season premiering in December.

"Being on television doesn't mean I'm a better tattoo artist," says James. "There are many artists out there who are better than me. But I try to do it in the best way that I can, to shed light on the trade, to show that there's not much difference between people who choose to get tattoos and those who don't. People should no longer be hassled just because of their tattoo sleeves.

"I didn't get tattoos for people to look at me and to stand out from the crowd. I did it to express myself with art," he said.

"Do I believe that people should tattoo their faces? Unfortunately, people do judge a book by its cover."

James adds that he shares a special bond with some of his clients, sometimes a lifelong one.

"You have to be responsible for what you do to people. I want to make sure that I don't hurt people by making bad tattoos on them because what you do to others reflects on your life as well. You share that s*** energy."

When he's not tattooing, James works on his clothing line, Ami James Ink, inspired by 1940s to '60s vintage styles.

"I like it to reach people that are never going to get tattooed by me. They can always buy a shirt and have a piece of that art."