After good and loyal services in Nantes, Stoo took off a few years ago in the direction of Reunion Island. It is from this remote French tropical land that the French tattooist gives us some news about local tattooing, while evoking his career and his predilection today for large format Japanese imagery.
You've been living in Reunion Island for nine years now, how is it going there?
Life is pretty good! The island is intense, the landscapes and the beaches are just magnificent, it's good to live here. For someone like me, who is very close to the sea and also loves the mountains, it's a good compromise.
How popular is tattooing on the island?
There are starting to be more and more shops, and with good artists. And we live in shorts and t-shirts most of the year, so people like to show off. The cult of the body is very important here.
Do the tastes in terms of patterns differ from those in mainland France?
They are quite varied but still very similar. That is to say, a lot of Marquesan, graphic and floral designs work well. The small tattoos that represent the island are also very popular. We get a lot of tourist turnover and they like to leave with a little souvenir. Finally, there are the inevitable dream catcher designs, infinity signs, dandelion flowers, keys to paradise and other crap like that lol... no, double lol. But it's true!
Tattooing and travelling, it's a couple that works well together. You have travelled a lot thanks to your tattoo?
Yes, but unfortunately for me, I didn't enjoy it very much. I was a father at a very young age and I concentrated on my family life and the shops I set up. The trip was more in the realm of relaxation.
You have travelled a bit in France though?
Yes, I've travelled around France a bit. Working around the country has allowed me to meet beautiful people. I was born in Clermont-Ferrand (in the centre of France) and the first time I left for tattooing I went up to Paris where I met Remy from the All Tattoo studio - now in Saint-Vincent de Tyrosse where his shop La Manufacture du Tattoo is -. I worked for two years with Jimmy Coquelle in his studio Basic Inkstinct then I went down south to Fréjus to join Julien from Tattoo Styl where I stayed for another two years. I met my wife there and we moved back to Clermont-Ferrand where we had our first child.
Speaking of your background, how did tattooing start for you?
Tattooing crossed my path in 1994 in Montluçon. I was studying cooking at the time and during a party at a friend's house, in one of the rooms, two guys were tattooing themselves with very archaic equipment: a small remote-controlled car engine, a spoon, a Bic pen and all the rest. As the evening went on, the alcohol flowing freely, the two friends got into a tizzy and the tattooed guy got bored, the piece not being finished. I offered him to continue the mess, which he accepted. It was a revelation for me. The next morning I went to a toy shop to buy a small remote-controlled car and started making my first junk machines. I finished my studies and met Seb in Clermont-Ferrand who was opening a piercing shop. I proposed to him to create a tattoo space. He asked me if I had any photos to show him, I had four and of poor quality, but that was enough to decide him to take me with him. Hallelujah! That was in 1995 and it was the beginning of an adventure that lasted six years.
What were your references at the time?
Filip leu, Grime, BBR, Tin-Tin, Luc la Main Froide, Dimitri HK, Patrick Chaudesaigues, Guicho, Steph D, Vincent Bizzaroid, Timer and many others. The beginnings are rather cool, we were then in full boom of the tattoo and the piercing. Customers were coming in and out, it was a really great time. In terms of references, there was no internet or Instagram, so we bought all the magazines that came out and as many books as possible at the Fnac. I remember buying my first book on the Leu family by Italian photographer Fabio Paleari, which remained my bedside book for a long time.
You started out doing everything, now there's a style you focus on?
I always liked to look at pictures of big Japanese pieces but at the time there was little demand. I used to dream of tattooing them though! I got a good slap in the face when I went down to work with Julien in Fréjus, that's all he did. In his own way of course, but it was a fantastic experience for me to work with him. He was coming out with complete bodies, in an incredible style for the time. I was a fan and I still am. Now people come to me for my Japanese-inspired tattoo. I like the big lines and the big solids, on quite dark backgrounds. Visually it's very effective. Even from ten meters away you can read the headline of a guy wearing a carp and a peony on a water background. That's what really gets me going.
Do you still feel like you're learning after all these years?
I think you're always learning, there's nothing you can take for granted. I've been lucky enough to work with Mathieu for almost ten years now, in the Carry Graphik studio in Saint Leu, here in La Réunion. He's a fucking artist, meticulous and creative. We exchange a lot together, on his pieces and mine, on techniques, placements. In our shop we regularly welcome guests and the exchanges are very cool. There is always something to learn. It's important not to stay on your feet. You have to know how to question yourself.
How do you maintain your design?
Thanks to my clients' requests. I work a lot in large format. With the arrival of the iPad and all the software, there's not much room for good old-fashioned pencils, but I still like to go back to my brushes, inks and cotton paper. I couldn't put that down. It's good to make paintings where you are free to do what you want.
Which tattoo artists are you looking at today?
The list is long... I really like the work of Amar Goucem, Barbara Munster, Diao Zuo, Diao Shane, Mike Dorsey, Horiyoshi III, Vlady, Mo Coppoletta, Jee Sayalero.
There is one motif that you seem to particularly like, and that is the mask and/or the large face. Can you tell us about it?
It's true that in the large formats I particularly like this motif, which is placed on the back, in my opinion the main part of the body. I like to put a single element on it, so that it stands out from afar, and then the portrait adapts particularly well to the morphology of a back. + IG : @stoo_ironink_413 IG : @carrygraphik Carry Graphik 1, rue du Trésor Saint-Leu La Réunion
