Maret aka @lordenstein_art, creates incredible tattoos at Capsule.3, a private studio in Berlin, Germany. Here she tells us about making tattoos that tell a story, her most memorable tattoo experience and her fun tattoo collection…
How long have you been a tattoo artist? I slowly started tattooing friends and people I knew in 2014 and I became a full time tattoo artist in 2016. I tried to get an apprenticeship in 2005, when I was 15 years old, but at that time it was quite impossible.
How have you seen the industry evolve since you began? I was interested in tattooing as a child, but even then I had the impression that the scene was very male dominated. Women were mostly just cover girls on magazines and the tattoo shops were full of male tattoo artists – the environment seemed hard and rough. But that didn’t bother me and I really wanted to be a part of it.
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I’m glad that the scene has opened up a lot more. There are more styles and different ways into tattooing as a career is possible. More variation exists and everyone inside a tattoo studio can feel like they’re in good hands.
How would you describe your work? Has your style changed since you started? I would describe my work as mostly driven by linework with some shading to set the contrast. I love dreamy, beautiful or cute designs and a “clean“ image instead of chaotic or abstract designs. Saying that, when I started out I would sometimes work in a more abstract way, I also would use bigger lines and apply dots instead of light shading – I wouldn’t do this anymore.
What drew you to linework rather than colour? As well as aspiring to become a tattoo artist I wanted to become a manga artist. I found the implementation of shadows and structures with black ink especially exciting. I have always liked to work with fineliners instead of pencils.
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I think I felt more comfortable with black lines and with a few exceptions, no one has ever asked me for a colour tattoo. So, from the beginning I have stayed with the technique I felt most comfortable with.
What inspires your tattoos and what do you like to create? I like to create cute and joyful designs, but sometimes they also include a hint of melancholy.
I love it when they tell a story or when I can hide Easter eggs in there which you don’t notice immediately.
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I get inspired pretty easily by all kinds of stuff that’s around me, sometimes it’s just the light falling through the leaves of a tree or a butterfly sitting on a flower on my balcony. I also have a good collection of artbooks, including Studio Ghibli animes and others, which display a great collection of landscape designs.
What’s the tattoo culture like in Berlin? I feel the tattoo culture is very diverse and modern. From the classic old school walk-in shops to the private studios and safe spaces, everything is there – stylistically as well. Nevertheless, I sometimes feel that the scene could benefit from more networking and communication between the styles of tattooing.
But, then again there are events like joint art exhibitions that break down these discrepancies by inviting everyone to join in and contribute a design in their style. In my opinion, there should be more of these.
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Also tattooing should finally be officially recognised as an art form, which unfortunately has not been the case in Germany so far.
Do you have a tattoo experience that sticks out in your mind? Almost all of my experiences so far have been very good, whether I have created the tattoo or been tattooed.
Getting tattooed in South Korea was a particularly special experience. I was quite nervous at first as I had to transfer the full amount for the tattoo months in advance. When I arrived in Korea, I was given the address which I was not allowed to share. I was also asked not to post anything on social media.
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The shop looked like an apartment building from the outside and the inside was like a small office. Little by little the equipment was taken out of different closets and corners and a tattoo shop emerged. Tattooing is still illegal in South Korea, so everything is done in secrecy.
In addition, the tattoo artist took a long break every hour and had two assistants on site. Rarely have I seen a tattooist allow themselves so much selfcare, although it would do us all so much good! Who doesn’t know the constant back pain and eating unhealthy snacks quickly between appointments?
Can you tell us about your own tattoo collection? My right leg is mainly a collection of tattoos from friends, acquaintances and people I’ve met during guest spots. Most of the tattoos on my leg have something in common – they all do show llamas or alpacas. I just love these animals and they are so funny! Many of them are doing things that reflect me, like eating ice cream. One sleeps on the back of a snail, because in life I generally need a little longer to tackle things or find my way. This leg is obviously also a bit more colourful.
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Otherwise I like a lot of black and now and then a coloured accent. I also prefer dark and bold designs. For example, on my left leg I have a centipede which crawls into the open mouth of a woman’s face and on the side of my thigh I have a huge Hydra. I especially like the contrast between the dark colour and the free (open/not tattooed) skin.
Perhaps you can tell that I was a big fan of the classic tribal as a child and that it had a lasting aesthetic impact on me. However, only on myself.
What’s been your proudest and happiest moment in your career so far? I have a few and new ones are happening all the time. Mostly it’s when a tattoo artist I admire tells me that they like my stuff and follow me. Or when clients keep coming back to me for more tattoos after many years.
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What do you do when you’re not tattooing or drawing? I spend most of my free time playing video games. I used to paint with oil but haven’t done that in a while, because I don’t have the space for it at home. Otherwise I like to go on long walks or ride my bicycle. I also went back to university in 2020, so there isn’t too much time left to do anything else really.
‘Shaded’ is an on-going interview series created by 23-year-old Bournemouth-hailing music journalism student, writer and editor James Musker, which focuses on tattooists, the interesting people that wear their work and both the artist and canvas’s relationship to the craft.
Stephen William is an artist from the Clwydian Range in North Wales who’s currently living between London and Berlin – creating emotive, primal immediacy that speaks directly from the unconscious and transfers beautifully to skin. Here, Stephen speaks about his wide-view experience of the art world, the near-collapsing nature of his work and how a life-destroying flood pushed him to indulge the temporal medium of tattooing…
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Can you speak to your relationship with art and creativity? I’ve been making zines and running small press for nearly 15 years. Mainly North Wales punk zines that no one read or reads, because there was and is no punk scene, but it’s where I began playing around creatively. Later, I was a printmaker for about five years – specifically etching and a little bit of lithography. At the time, I was completely dedicated and driven by the desire to be the best printmaker I could be, and along with that came a lot of patient, precision and figurative drawing. I started getting tattooed in shops around this time, before then I just had things done by hand or using homemade machines attached to car batteries behind garages – the sort of stuff you’d do as a young kid who grew up in the valleys. Both methods had their own merits. I could afford to get maybe one tattoo a year from an actual shop, and would spend most of that year deciding what I wanted to get.
I moved to London to do print at the RCA, but abandoned that after a few weeks. I don’t know why, but the idea of doing things in this technical and proper way completely left me all at once – as well as my patience. I think by trying to be as technical and “good” as possible, I would dismiss 90% of my output by focusing on the end – treating everything as a precious, archived product rather than focusing on the process.
A close friend of mine bought me a cheap machine around eight years ago. I experimented with it, and blunted a lot of needles trying to make marks and textures with wood-block prints. I didn’t want to tattoo anyone with it initially, I just wanted to see what it would do on wood and zinc
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