Sabine Gaffron Tattooing the World Interview by Buddy Olli Translation by Ekke Affeldt
I was born and raised in Berlin 1969 and started tattooing under the influence of Bernie Luther from Vienna who was a friend of friends and gave me my first tattoo when I was 17 in a Berlin squad. He helped me a great deal in the beginning of my career.
After a rough start in a Berlin biker shop, I went quickly to do my first tattoo convention in Berlin tattooing for only one year. I wanted to meet people to improve my work. I followed the invitations that I got offered and soon I was on the road to work with several tattoo artists all over the planet and I've traveled the world since then. In 1995 I opened my own shop for only a short period of two years. Traveling doesn't go together very well with owning a business, and I decided it was too much of a burden for me at that time.
After almost 15 years of traveling and 27 countries later, I fell the need to settle down a bit and I'm trying to do so in Switzerland now.
Bernie Luthers influence made me start tattooing in the first place and he opened my eyes for the possibilities of the modern European tattoo and through him also and always the Leu Family was a big influence and certainly still is today.
I'm mostly interested in any kind of graphic work, poster art and Asian art but I can hardly limit myself to one particular style. Throughout my way almost everyone I met gave me some sort of input that pushed me further whether it is artistically, technically or personally. After the wish for a stable base to work from I'm hoping to improve my painting and get more into oil painting as well with the help of Filip and Titine Leu and Snir from Vision Tattoo in Tel Aviv who has a great deal of knowledge to share with us.
