Matte Bokis works at Zoi Tattoo in Gamla Stan, Stockholm. He describes himself as restless, happy and nice. He’s always on the go which can be a reason to why you can usually spot him at different tattoo conventions.

Matte grew up in Källvesta in Stockholm and it was here, through his dad, that the interest of tattooing was born. His dad was the first person in Mattes circle who was tattooed, something the child Matte thought was really cool. Before he started working in the business he spent time working both in elder care and with kids, and also for a time as a painter.

When he got to the point where he needed a change he started thinking about what to do instead. Since he’d always liked art and had been painting graffiti since 1996 it felt natural for him to start tattooing. He started in 2009. –I wanted to do something creative and because I could draw I figured tattooing would be easy, but I was so wrong! He started tattooing from home but in 2012 he got a job at a studio, Kult Tattoo Fest in Stockholm but soon left this shop and in 2013 he got a apprenticeship for Yann Del-Villar at Studio Seven Tattoo.
His style is a mix between traditional and neo-traditional with his own interpretations and character. He tries to always evolve, often through watching and listening to other artists and above all try to improve himself every chance he gets. He prefers to work in traditional American and Japanese-inspired motifs. He finds his inspiration in old books, sculptures and through graffiti but also have other tattooers in the business who he looks up to, his favorite studio is Spider Murphys and they are also a great inspiration to him.

According to Matte, Sweden has a very unique tattoo scene, not only because of them being the most tattooed people of the word. -The old traditional motifs are quite unique, you can see that they’re Scandinavian, like Tattoo Andy’s in Halmstad

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