New School dorms buzz with new, creative businesses.

Moving to New York City to go to a university like The New School, you open yourself up for some exciting opportunities.

Unexpected things happen all the time, but getting tattooed by an 18-year-old in a dorm room brings a new definition of weird to your college experience.

Two freshmen at The New School have started body art businesses in their dorms to help cultivate their creativity. Students have been able to get tattoos and tooth gems — a piece of jewelry glued to a tooth that lasts a month — from their peers between twin XL beds and maple wood closets.

Josie Schoen, a first-year student at Parsons School of Design, has been doing her own tooth gems for almost a year. Last fall, Schoen founded a new business to provide sparkly teeth in the halls of the Stuyvesant Park Residence.

“I had always kind of had the idea [tooth gems] would be so cool to do as a business because I love doing them and my friends want them, but I am from Wisconsin and way less people want them in Wisconsin than here,” Schoen said.

When Schoen moved to New York, her gemmed-up teeth were getting compliments left and right. People started to ask where she got them done, and when she said she had done them herself, they were often impressed, she said. The phrase “I am starting a business” started to slip through her gemstone-covered teeth.

Whether they live in the dorms or off-campus, Schoen has a long list of student clients who keep coming back for more. New School COVID-19 protocols have impacted Schoen’s business as she resides in the dorms.

“Up until a few weeks ago, people that were not in the dorms could not get in here, so I [would] have to do them in front of the stoop outside of Stuy,” Schoen said. “I do them at night because of my class [schedule], so I will be out there until 11 p.m. which is kind of funny. I get a lot of weird looks, I kind of love it.”

Like Schoen, Prithvi Virmani, a first-year at Parsons, started a business out of his dorm room. Virmani has been tattooing his fellow students since the end of September. Unlike Schoen, who enjoys the experience of people coming in and out of her dorm, Virmani finds working in the 301 Residence Hall to be difficult.

Apparently, we have to put in a deposit for the dorms and I have lost my deposit because there is ink all over my floor.

— Prithvi Virmani, first-year at Parsons School of Design

Virmani described tattooing in the dorms as “ass.”

“Apparently, we have to put in a deposit for the dorms and I have lost my deposit because there is ink all over my floor,” Virmani said. “With no being able to have [outside] guests, I have been doing a lot of house calls.”

Virmani’s tattoo alias, ‘Do You Like Drake,’ maintains an edgy and futuristic vibe. His designs are thin, triangular, detailed line drawings that give off dystopian energy. His passion for art comes from his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, he said.

“I had been tattooed a lot in Australia, and there are a lot of good artists in Melbourne specifically,” Virmani said. “Just seeing how people can translate their specific vision and how it is unique to each individual. I was like fuck it I will try it out. I think I took what I knew, especially with European tattooers, and tried to give it my own interpretation. I suppose in the beginning it was very bootleg. It is definitely ‘Do You Like Drake.’”

Virmani tries to separate his business from his schoolwork, while Schoen likes to incorporate her tooth gems into class projects.

“I made a book under the idea of imperfect beauty to talk about body ornamentation or covering in terms of imperfect beauty,” Schoen said. “I picked tooth gems and I was able to do a project on it. … [Parsons] has opened a lot of doors for me with that, to meet other creative art students.”

Virmani sees tattooing as an art form to pursue alongside his studies at Parsons.

“I suppose I could submit my tattoos as shit for projects, but I have my school work and I have my tattoos. I keep them separate,” Virmani said.

From tattooing to installing tooth gems, students with small businesses in the dorms are starting to build community and connect students to one another. Those hovering around the University Center with tooth gems have asked one another if they got them from Schoen, as a lot of people will recognize her as the “tooth gem girl.”

Collaboration with people is so cool,” Schoen said. “I really want to do photoshoots and stuff with people with tooth gems. That is a goal of mine in the future, to meet other creatives. It is cool to trade things for tooth gems like haircuts and tattoos.”

Experience the city like an art student: adding art to the body.

A version of this article appeared in the Spring 2022 International Issue of The New School Free Press. Read more stories from the print issue here.