My name is Chaim Machlev. I am 40 years old and was born and raised in Tel Aviv, Israel. I had a pretty normal childhood, I was not a popular child at all and spent most of my childhood in front of my computer.
I never had any artistic background, never created art besides playing a guitar as a hobby which did not have any similarity to drawing or tattooing. In fact when I was younger I was not attracted to tattoos until the point I started to think about getting one.
2. What inspired you to become a Tattoo Artist?
I got my first tattoo 10 years ago by Avi Vanunu in Psycho studio in Tel Aviv and it was one of the strongest impacts of my life. I found the procedure super spiritual and life changing. I guess that's when I lost the negative association towards tattooing which I had before and instead had such a positive connection towards things that society choose to see as something wrong or unacceptable.
This really led me to the point in life to understand that something has to be done and I couldn't stop thinking about tattoos. I started to see it in my dreams, every person that I saw I thought about lines designed over their body and how interesting it could be to actually be a tattoo artist who creates this experience for other people.
Back then, I was a project manager in an IT company, in charge of 22 workers and had a pretty comfortable life from the materialistic perspective. The thoughts about tattoos stayed with me and I decided to get another tattoo just to understand the process even better.
After the second tattoo it was clear that some action needed to be done and I left for the desert to make a decision on how to pursue my dream. In the desert you cannot run from your thoughts. It's a place where you can confront yourself, which is exactly what happened.
After spending 5 days in the desert I decided to dedicate my life to becoming a tattoo artist and that I would move to a new country to pursue this dream, which was Berlin. I moved to Berlin in 2012 to start my journey in search of becoming a Tattoo Artist.
3. How would you define your Aesthetics and Style?
It's hard to say the style I create as an artist, I have a private studio and will only tattoo one person a day as I always try to see the process as a spiritual one, creating a design which fits the body structure of each individual, thus making it personal for each person that walks through the door.
Many customers who come for a tattoo are very open minded and let me have the creative freedom to work with them on designing something together. A lot of what I create is liniat design along with geometric and symmetric elements.
I also love to experiment and combine these elements with creative freedom, as well as collaborating with other tattoo artists on projects.
4. What is the most difficult part of working as a Tattoo Artist?
The biggest challenge as a tattoo artist for me is what you create at the end of the day after the session is a permanent and immortal work of art and it is not even yours to keep like a painting or a photograph. When that person walks out of your studio, you might never see them again.
5. What are common misconceptions among people about Tattooing?
To a lot of people tattoos can be related to drugs or crime. When you get your first tattoo you no longer have those pre-justices, as you understand the beauty of deciding to adapt your body and let someone add this art. Which has actually been a tradition in many countries and cultures for hundreds of years.
6. What is your favorite part of being a tattoo artist?
I am thankful for the trust that customers give to me and it fills me with excitement and motivation to always create a better design than before and always challenge myself more to push further. It fills me with more and more love to tattoo and that things are only possible (in my eyes) when you don’t have the border between a customer and yourself.
I understood pretty quickly that there is no other way to learn tattooing than to really dedicate yourself to it, so I really chose to destroy the border between me and my customers completely and to make it as intimate as possible and as effective as possible.
7. What inspires you the most and why?
I get inspiration from Nature, I think that it is the most honest thing for us as artists to get inspired from. Of course I get super excited when I see tattoo designs or other art forms which stimulate me, but I really get most of my inspiration on a more wide aspect of just observing or thinking about nature, as mathematical as it is, as spiritual and abstract as it can be.
I always try to balance my designs as nature does with its creations, when a design is too geometric it often creates a cold feeling, the goal is to find the right balance into it. When I take a project I always have the feeling to create something that will look super cool from far away and when you will come closer it will have a lot of dimensions in it and will stimulate the viewer’s eyes in the strongest way.
It doesn’t have to be too complicated, it can simply be made from one line that flows through the entire body, it is all a matter of personality and what the customer is like. How they move, talks, how they are describing themselves and how they want to be described.
8. Who is your favorite Tattoo Artist?
It's a tough question to answer, as I get inspired by many artists not only tattoo artists. My creations are also influenced by musicians and the music they create. I will always listen to music when I'm tattooing as its a form of art which really inspires me to live and create to the best of my ability.
9. Which is your favorite Book and Why?
My favorite book is the Little Prince, as its a short but powerful story.
Interviewed By - Serene Ingle
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