Hailing from Germany, Noby started tattooing at the tender age of 13. Catching his first ride down a long road spanning over 35 years, he began teaching himself tattooing in the “stick n poke” form before taking on a D.I.Y ethic and building tattoo machines out of razors and needles. To this day he still makes his own needles.
At the age of 13 he was kicked out of home and dropped out of school, spending the next 4 years traveling around Europe tattooing people with home made machines or by “stick n poke”. At the age of 17 he bought his first machine in Athens from some American. Over the next 5 years the traveling continued, he worked out of rented apartments and any place he could find an empty chair.
After returning to Germany he got a job at Fine Line Tattoo in Dusseldorf and also worked from time to time in Hyper Shader Tattoo in Brauschwein.
But the road was unyielding. Noby continued to take rides to new places whenever they came up, setting up shop all over:
Kathmandu
Alexandria
Athens
Amsterdam
Milton Keynes
Gothenburg
Linkoping
Norkoping
Tel Aviv
and everywhere in between.
This life continued until 1993 when decided to plant some roots in a town Called Uppsala (Sweden). He opened the first of two Tattoo Zones here, setting up a place he could impart his knowledge onto “the hungry, young ones” and have his friends from all come do guests spots. Two years later after the success of the first shop he opened a second Tattoo shop in Stockholm Söder under the same “Tattoo Zone” banner, with the same aesthetics and feeling.
In 1997 he decided to close the Uppsala branch of Tattoo zone to focus on the store in Stockholm and began work setting up Stockholm’s first annual Tattoo convention with close long time friend Tumppi. Of course the traveling continued.
Before it made it too the airwaves, Noby worked and taught in Miami Ink, adding to a long list of friendships and experience.
Now I have to say, this brief history is missing out the gory details of everything that happened in between. This is a man who has truly lived, and I doubt very much that many of you reading this would have the stomach for what real life entails.
Noby plays for keeps. His art form reflects the life and personality . There is no point going into anything by halves, a waste of time to be uncommitted. The ink stays, much like his unrelenting determination.
Noby's Tattoo Zone 