Mondial du Tatouage is known as one of the world’s largest conventions with over 30,000 visitors and over 300 artists. In this post our Italian contributor Ilaria Pauletti shares her first time at Mondial du Tatouage convention in Paris…
This was my first time in Paris and my first time at Mondial du Tatouage. A dream come true!
It was Friday 4th March and obviously I woke up very early, feeling pretty nervous as usual but also very excited for my upcoming appointment with Rodrigo Souto– I just couldn’t wait.
The Grand Halle de La Villette was very easy to reach, located just 200 m from its own metro station, which was great and made the whole trip a lot easier. Giving me loads of time to walk around and see just how many people were attending the convention.
Hannah Sykes and Guy Le Tattooer
The doors opened at 12 and there was a huge queue at the main entrance, while waiting, I met a lovely Sardinian couple of tattoo collectors who had an appointment with Dane from Inkamatic – Trieste, and a German girl, Eva, who was waiting to get tattooed by Samuele Briganti. She got a beautiful black and grey lady head on her arm.
I ran to get into the convention, powered by excitement,luckily the map of hundreds of booths was right in front of us and I could immediately get to Rodrigo’s one.
He made me feel at ease and he totally got what I wanted on my skin. After he drew the design onto my arm by hand and I had a look in the mirror we were ready to go.
I have to say the pain was pretty bearable but that elbow/ditch spot was actually really for me. And my friend Marina, who was there with me, can confirm the struggle was real!
Three hours later my arm was like a giant sausage, and then I could walk around the convention.
Ilaria’s peony
I met a lot of the artists I have been tattooed by, for instance Guen Douglas, Morg Armeni, Arianna Settembrino. They were all working hard! I also saw local tattooists who were also very busy, like Mikael de Poissy and Guy Le Tatooer. The booths were a lot larger than ones I have seen at other conventions, meaning that both the tattooist and client could enjoy themselves with no awkward positioning of limbs and machine.
I treated myself to lots of amazing prints by some of my favourite artists, it was really hard to decide what to buy and what to not. The main stage showcased the Best of Day contests, with some great judges including; Kari Barba, Filip Leu, Bill Salmon and Luke Atkinson.
Yall Quiñones getting tattooed by Roberto Borsi
I hope to be back and I can’t wait to see what’s next, because tattoo conventions are made of this: good company, quality tattoos and a great location!