Born in the Netherlands/Amsterdam and tattooing since 2002.  After years of experience working in different shops i have created a private studio in my own house.

The studio is called 'Blackinktatau' and i am specialized in two different styles: Patters from the past, traditional inspired tribal blackwork from polynesian islands and  the pacific area and other tribalism, graphic figurative, abstract and sketchy styled tattoos with humor and a twist.

 

Beside tattooing i am a autodidact polymath artist

with a passion  for crafts.  Skills like knife-making Kampman knives, painting and sculpting.

Together with one of my oldest and best friends we have a small bushcraft company called PolderBushcraft  where we teach primitive nature skills to children and adults.

 

During work and many travels all over the world i made friends and met different people and artists who shared stories, knowledge, culture, skills and meanings of patterns that are the base of my tribalism as well as every design i make for each person.

 

Tattooing has been practiced across the world since at least Neolithic times and humans have marked their bodies with tattoos for thousands of years.

The word tattoo comes from the Polynesian word ‘ta’ which means striking something and the Tahitian word ‘tatau’ which means ‘to mark something’.
The western word "tattoo" was brought to Europe by the explorer James Cook, when he returned in 1769 from his first voyage to Tahiti and New Zealand. In his narrative of the voyage, he refers to an operation called "tattoo".  

The Polynesian people believed that a person’s “mana”- their spiritual power or life force, is displayed through their tattoo. The vast majority of what we know today about these ancient arts has been passed down through legends, songs, and ritual ceremonies. Elaborate geometrical designs which were often added to, renewed, and embellished throughout the life of the individual until they covered the entire body.

 

In recent years tattooing has emerged to the forefront of popular consciousness, they are no longer for outlaws, sailers, tribes, circus people, soldiers and others.

Today styles range from the traditional and native to the sacred and innovative, and is as diverse as the people who wear them.