Tikiroa was born in Christchurch - New Zealand .And has
Maori and Dutch ancestry. He has lived in New Zealand before moving to Holland where
he lived for over 10 years. He now
lives on Koh Phangan Island in the Gulf of Thailand, famous for the Full Moon
Party and Jungle party’s every month.
All the tattoos done by Tikiroa are done the Thai “Bamboo”
style. This is the traditional Thai way of tattooing and Tikiroa does not use
machines. The style is somewhat different from the way that the Buddhist monks
do it as they use a single needle style and work more in dot work style; I use
multiple needles in a strait flat line so that you don’t get the dot effect in
the design.
The Bamboo tattoo is a complete different experience
compared to the machine, it is slower and takes longer to complete a tattoo but
it hurts less than the machine tattoo. Also there is no buzzing noise like with
the machine which only sucks if you LOVE that buzzing noise. The feeling is
more natural as it is handwork. The actual tattoo result as in aging of colors
and lines is the same as with the
machine the work itself is more in the hands of the artist then in
the style in my opinion
Most of the tattoos that I make are freehand. This way you
can be sure that the tattoo that you are getting is a one of a kind. The way
this works is like so, first we will talk about what kind of style and meaning you are after, from there I will draw a sketch on the body area to be
tattooed. This is the best way to make
sure that is fits the body anatomy and you will be able to see how the tattoo
will look like in a rough, with your approval and we can then start the actual
tattooing.
For symmetrical symbols or pieces that are fully symmetrical
I will prefer to make a design on paper and stencil it on to the body this is because I can
then draw the design more accurate on
paper t and get it on to the body as good as I can.
To bring me a picture of a tattoo as an idea is great but
don’t expect me to copy someone else’s tattoo for every tattoo has a meaning to
its wearer and it is bad luck to copy this and in the pacific seas seen as the
highest disrespect to someone.
