Step into Frank’s Chop Shop on Orchard Street and you’ll hear clippers buzzing, New York hardcore pulsing, and Lilo the French Bully guarding the door. But wander toward the back—past the legendary bench, past the barbers trading strain talk—and you’ll find one of the shop’s most unexpected landmarks: the bathroom collage created by Shin, the Japanese artist who has become part of the Chop Shop’s heartbeat.

Shin arrived in New York two and a half years ago, trading a lifetime of global travel and Japanese art study for Brooklyn basements, Orchard Street nights, and the creative chaos that defines Frank’s. Originally from Japan, he grew up studying traditional Japanese styles and exploring art around the world. “I like beautiful,” he says. “I like traditional, I like contemporary. I want to mix everything. Japanese style, 420 style—mix.”

That mix has become his signature. His work—bright, saturated, mischievous—draws from centuries-old Japanese linework but embraces cannabis culture with pure joy. For Shin, 4/20 isn’t just a holiday; it’s a motif. “420 means good number for weed,” he laughs. He paints at home late at night, often scavenging canvases from storage or the streets of New York. “I walk at night with my book and canvas. If I see something good, okay, yes. It’s New York style.”

Shin’s collage in the Frank’s bathroom has become a destination of its own—an explosion of color and imagery that visitors photograph as religiously as their fresh fades. People from across the world stop to see it.

Before picking up a paintbrush, Shin cut women’s hair in Japan. In New York he became a full-fledged barber at Frank’s, mastering fades for every background that walks through the door.

In Japan, smoking was “so scary,” he admits. In New York, he can finally enjoy it—fully, freely, creatively. “Weed gives me imagination,” he says. “Everything goes up.”

At Frank’s Chop Shop, Shin found what every artist hopes for: a place where culture, community, and creativity collide. And in return, he gave the shop—and the world—a splash of color that won’t soon fade.

Find Shin in Honeysuckle's latest print edition!