Felix “den lycklige” Paulin was born in Stockholm in the beginning of 1980. Today he works at the esteemed studio Salong Betong in Högdalen, just outside of Stockholm. But his road to success hasn’t been a straight one.

Before Felix started his career as one of Sweden’s best tattoo artists he worked for many years within elder-care. This he found to be truly satisfying, he liked helping the old.
His first job was as a paperboy, a job he took to pay off a fine he’d gotten.

-Since I started working I’ve always been engulfed by different passions to which I’ve always tried to give as much time as possible and because of that I haven’t been able to work full time at a “real” job. Now I can combine the two, my passions and still have an income.

He started his journey in the tattoo industry by working as a shopmanager at King Carlos Tattoo in the beginning of the millenia. This taught him a great deal about the theoretical aspects of tattooing, such as hygiene and how to run a tattoo shop. He says he’s very thankful to Calle Corson for all of the lessons he took with him from there, and for getting the opportunity to get a foot in the door to the industry.

Felix says he’s pretty self-taught, his first tattoo he did almost 18 years ago but he didn’t start working with tattooing until ‘08. When I ask him what the best thing about working as a tattoo-artist is he says that tattooing is more than a job to him, it’s also his hobby.

He loves running his own shop, solving problems and together with others having a creative process. To do tough jobs and getting out of there with a good result is also very satisfying to him. To also be able to meet new people and be his own boss is just icing on the cake.

Felix is clearly a very distinct black and gray artist with a lot of depth in his motifs. He is also very gifted in a variation of styles. But how would he himself describe his style?

-When it comes to my black and gray I’d say I’m very meticulous, on the verge of manic and regarding my japanese motifs.. I try to keep myself outside of the lines, to not be typically traditional.

He finds his inspiration on social media, particularly on instagram, because it’s so easy to find new artists to get inspired by, at the same time as you get a incentive to always better yourself. Felix also likes to try new machines as well as play with his really old ones to get a deeper understanding of the tools he uses. He also likes to try new techniques and needles, always in order to improve himself.

-Above all I like to focus on different kinds of motifs and techniques every year. This year I’m trying to do as many animal portraits as possible, which is a lot of fun.

His favorite convention in Sweden is without a doubt Stockholm Ink Bash, where he always tries to show his face and a hot tip to his future clients is that its very unispirational when people tries to save a buck when they want to get a tattoo done. A good tattoo should cost money.

He looks up to quite a few artists, Calle Corson, Mister Cartoon, José Lopez and Niki Norberg to name a few who inspires him.

-The whole crew in the studio are people I look up to, I learn something new every day there.

When I asked Felix if he had any requests of tattooers he’d like me to interview for Swedish Tattoo Society he answered.

-Stephan Blomsterberg, he’s a guy I really like and he’s very creative in different artforms and also Adam Augustsson who also is very creative in different arts, both of them I’ve taken in as guest-artists at Salong Betong.

Thank you Felix for wanting to be a part of Swedish Tattoo Society!