Piettro Torchio

What's so special about Traditional tattoos for you?

I think people donʼt get tattoo for their lifetime these days, they just wanna get a good picture for instagram or whatever... Traditional tattoos are forever because they are solid and simple, is the best option when we are talking about human skin and time.

What's popular in Brazil?

I think tattoo scene around the world is pretty much the same... We have many good tattooers doing all types of work, same as here.

How about Traditional?

Yes, I think we have many good oldschool tattooers in Brazil, and they been surviving for a long time. One good thing about Brazil is the amount of people we have, its a damn big country.

What's it like to be a tattooer in Brazil?

Tattoo Mafia is definetly around these days, not only in my country. In Brazil, everyoneʼs there is hiding ink or putting good ink into false bottles of bad ink. I still use the Eternal Ink (one of the unlicensed inks in Brazil) and I donʼt even change these bottles ‘cause I work in a private shop, but if you work in some big shop, or you hide it or you are friend of the motherfucker mafia.

I know you do acupuncture, is there any connection with it and and tats?

Of course, thereʼs some connection between, it's needles goinʼ into your body...The thing is, if acupunture needle hits you into a good energy points - itʼs good for you. Tattoo machine don't go as deep as acupunture needles and it hits your skin repeatedly, so it's more stress for your body. At some spots, like palm hand, ears, feet, it could affect people in a weird energy way.

I see you keep your new tattoo in foil for a longer time than usual, whatʼs that?

Thatʼs "5 days foil method", basically you just wash your new tattoo with the antibacterial soap (twice a day), dry it with a clean paper towel and put it in a foil. You donʼt really need it for small tats, but itʼs good for those which are big and more colourfull. Biggest benefits are your body doesnʼt waste any energy to make a large crust so It has more energy for the healing itself. But some people can get skin stress with too much foil, so it's individual. The basics is: Keep it clean and wet.

Good to know, so the more colours you get, the worst the healing is?

Yes there are lot of things happening in one place when you go lot of colours...

You studied graphic design, how does it influence your tats?

Well, its good for the artistic point of view, composition, balance, colours, shading, forms and etc...

Any favourite artists?

My favorite dead tattooers are Sailor Jerry and Bert Grimm, contemporary tattooers Chad Koeplinger and Duncan X. And of course, my favourite artists are musicians, music is really important to me.

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Text & foto: TerkaTetris