It all started 11 years ago. I’ve always been very artistically driven, and while I was studying to become a photographer I stumbled across the opportunity to start a tattooing apprenticeship… and never looked back.

It took a lot of hard graft to develop my skills to the point they are at today but I’m thankful I stuck with it because tattooing has taken me to so many places and introduced me to so many fascinating people. Now I live in Switzerland where I work in a studio in the centre of Luzern.

I picked up chainstitching last year, during the first lockdown. I wanted to invest my free time learning something new that would challenge my artistic skills and I was lucky enough to find a vintage Singer chainstitching machine for sale locally. Since I had a fair amount of time on my hands I focused on practising as much as I could. I was determined to make it work as I had no idea when I’d be able to get back to tattooing again; I felt I needed to have a back-up plan in case I was out of work for an extended period.

My distinctive delicate tattoo style is mainly influenced by nature; I like to take photos of wild plants when I’m out walking my little dog, to use as reference for my work. But my chainstitching is influenced by a lot of different things – anything interesting-looking and vintage, which might be an old bike or car, or food ads, or oil cans or clothing. The biggest influence by far though is the Japanese chopper scene. I love their culture, the bikes and the fashion – it just fascinates me. 

I currently own a Sportster^® and a Panhead. I’ve loved classic bikes ever since I was very young, so owning a vintage Harley^® was something I’d wanted for a very long time but could never afford until more recently. At the time I got my bike licence in 2015 I didn’t know much about choppers, but I started noticing them around and I knew right away that that was what I really wanted. I got myself a Sportster and my two great friends Glen and Chrigel helped me through my journey, changing it up from stock to what it is now – and that journey now continues with my Panhead.

Japanese bike culture was what inspired me to get my Pan; how they seem to be doing their own thing over there and looking effortlessly awesome doing it. The bikes are incredible! I became obsessed with the women there riding rigid bikes so I knew that was what I wanted, despite Switzerland having very strict rules about what you can do to customise bikes. Buying a pre-1957 bike was pretty much the only way I could get a rigid frame Harley-Davidson, so now here I am with a ’56 Pan, which I imported from the US. It’s currently in pretty much the same state as it was when I bought it because I ended up heading off for a few trips right after it arrived, but this winter I’ll be changing it up and building it into my dream chopper. Hopefully I’ll have it ready for next spring – pray for me!

I love to ride; I love the friendships I’ve formed and the people I’ve met because of it; I love the feeling of sheer satisfaction I get as soon as I jump on my bike and go for a ride; and I love all the places I’ve been able to visit thanks to being a rider. It’s also helped me through difficult times, and I’m sure many people can identify with that. 

Riding has opened up so many opportunities for me. I recently did a really fun trip to a chopper event in Sweden. The bikes were insane and the people were great! That trip got me pumped up to start working on my Panhead. Another highlight was riding to the Flanders Chopper Bash – that was my first long trip on the bike, and it was a blast. You learn so much about yourself when you do these trips! My riding improves every time I go on one of these adventures, so I can’t wait for all the events next year when things start opening up properly again.

Meanwhile, I continue to develop my tattoo style; I’m constantly learning. That’s especially true with chainstitching, where I still have so much to learn, so I’m working on building my brand, honing my style and carving out a place for myself in the industry.

I’m also really, really looking forward to starting work on my beloved Panhead and excited about all the places I’ll get to visit on it – there’s an almost infinite list of work I’ll need to do on it and so many new things I need to learn, so the whole process will be a huge challenge. I’ll keep you posted!