I just realized on my flight from Jakarta to Doha: it has been 20 years since my very first trip to my favorite continent.

I always dreamed about visiting Asia. It all started with those amazing Godzilla movies, early Dragon Ball, and the grit of old-school Kung Fu ( 36 Chambers!) and Bruce Lee films.

I knew, eventually, I had to see Hong Kong and Tokyo with my own eyes.

In 2006, with my first real paycheck, I bought a one-way ticket to Japan. I landed with $1,000 cash in my pocket & a massive dream. I was just a "lost Gaijin" back then, talking to anyone who would listen and making friends everywhere I went. I went to meet few tattoo masters. That month changed everything. Japan didn’t just fulfill the dream—it set the hook.

I went back to Europe, started grinding, and six months later I was back on a flight to Tokyo. It was during those early trips between 2006 and 2009 that the vision became clear: I didn’t just want to visit; I wanted to live there and master the art of tattooing.

After my second trip to Singapore in 2010, I made the jump. I stayed.

The next decade was a blur of movement. I lived between Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan before moving to Taiwan in 2015. I spent months in Korea, Thailand, and China, meeting the masters and working beside them. Studying Asian mind , culture & work ethics. I put in the work, studying backpieces and body suits, eventually winning the Hong Kong International Tattoo Convention in 2016 with a full body suit. From then on, I went from competitor to judge, traveling to Vietnam, Bangkok, and beyond. Tattooing alwas great but I missed one piece of a puzzle...

In 2016, I picked up the spraycans again. I had walked away from graffiti for a decade to fully commit to tattooing, but the walls called me back. Since then, I’ve painted hundreds of them—from the small alleyways of Okinawa to the streets of Gangnam, Brunei, and Kuala Lumpur. Back alleys of Chengdu, Sam Shui Po & skateparks in Singapore. I love leaving a piece of my art behind for the people passing by to enjoy .

Even though I’m European, I feel a deeper connection to Asian culture than my own. I’ve spent half my life here by choice. This continent sculpted me. It gave me my work ethic and that TUNNEL VISION I learned from the masters—people who spend a lifetime focusing on one thing until they achieve perfection.

I’m living in Indonesia now. Who knows where the future leads, but I’ll likely grow old and die on a remote island somewhere on this side of the world.

ASIA IS HOME.

kamakura 2006.