Hi Thomas, thanks for letting me ask you a few questions.

Growing up have you always had an artistic background?

I have grown up in a very artistic family, my mother is a professor of art and a painter and my father used to do music at a younger age, he was a keyboard player in a band. So since my childhood I was always busy either drawing or playing drums: Both my parents wanted me to follow their paths!

Was tattooing always something you wanted to do, or was it something you fell into?

Rather, I fell into it. I got my first sleeve done when i was 16, and soon after I tried tattooing myself, of interest, and i loved it, though I didn’t take it seriously at that moment. Later I went to study in a music school in London to get a degree in Jazz and Contemporary Performance on drums, and my schoolmates kept asking me for a tattoo, so this is when I really got the taste of it!

When did you open your first studio?

I opened my first studio a few years ago in Chiswick, London, it was a small basement room in a shared beauty place with just enough space for my station, but one year later I decided to move back to France, closer to the family, and this is when I opened a bigger studio.

From where do you gather your inspiration from?

Mostly from artistic photography, I often browse what is new in the world of photography, portraiture. Classic art is a big source of inspiration for me too.

Your style is very distinctive, the way you mix black and grey with colour is almost effortless. How did you make this your style?

Thank you for the kind words. It has been a long road trying different styles from polka trash to watercolour, when I finally found the designing techniques that I was comfortable with, but I always try to find something new to add on to it, different ways to shape the design.

Do you listen to a particular type of music while tattooing?

I mostly listen to calm tunes, Jazz and Soul is perfect for me to concentrate: RH factor, D’angelo, Jose James are on the top on the list.

Do you prefer to create or work off a source?

I base my designs on photography, I usually use quite specific kind of imagery, with a certain light, contrast, composition.

What is the best advice you have ever been given?

The best advice in tattooing that I got

is to take your time. You cannot rush into a well saturated, detailed piece.

Do you have a favourite tattoo that stands out to you, either by yourself or a fellow artist?

I cant name a particular tattoo that i like most, but rather work of different artists, like Matteo Pasqualin, Dmitriy Samohin, Nikko Hurtado. what is important, is that the artist produces a stable good work over time, this is what proves them.

How was 2016 for you? What does this year have in store?

2016 was simply convention-guestspot-studio and all over again. Now I am trying to take more time to concentrate on the development of our studio in France.

How would someone go about getting a tattoo from you?

Just let me propose a selection of images for the theme of the project – and we can book a session!

Thank you for your time Thomas!

Interview for TattooFan Magazine UK by Tim Drummond

All photo and media content has been taken from Thomas’s social media.
Visit Thomas’s facebook and instagram page here; Thomas Carli-jarlier & @thomascarlijarlier
Visit Noire Ink’s facebook and instagram page here; Noire Ink & @noireink