Polynesian tattoo artist directory

Tufuga tā tatau

Style — Hand-tap tatau (pe'a & malu)

Tufuga ta tatau (master tattooist) born in Matafa'a near Lefaga, Samoa, and based in New Zealand from the 1970s; he began tattooing in 1967. Wikipedia records that he shared his work in Europe, including residencies at the Tattoo Museum in Amsterdam, and served the Samoan diaspora in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. He died in 1999.

Tufuga tā tatau

Style — Hand-tap tatau

Brother of Su'a Sulu'ape Paulo II, described by Wikipedia as a respected master tattooist. In 1985 he visited a tattoo convention in Rome at the invitation of American tattooist Don Ed Hardy.

Tufuga tā tatau

Style — Hand-tap tatau

Owner of A-Town Tattoo in Garden Grove, California, one of the few places in the United States offering traditional Samoan tatau. LAist reports that the Sulu'ape family gave him their blessing to do tatau, and that he is half Samoan and wears a pe'a himself.

Traditional Hawaiian tattooist (uhi)

Style — Uhi hand-tap kākau

Native Hawaiian master tattooist from Waiʻanae. First Peoples Fund describes him as at the forefront of the movement to bring uhi (traditional tattooing) back to the islands, using traditional Hawaiian/Polynesian tools exclusively since 1999, and named him a 2015 Community Spirit Award honoree. He leads apprentice students; First Peoples Fund also refers to him as Su'a Sulu'ape Keone Nunes.

Tā moko artist & carver

Style — Tā moko (uhi chisel)

Of Ngāti Ira, Te Aitanga a Hauiti and Ngāti Porou, raised in Mangatuna. Toi Iho describes him as a master carver who has led the creation of several wharenui, and as a highly respected moko artist and mentor who has trained several practitioners and served for many years on the board of Toi Māori. Kōmako records that he was born in Gisborne.

Historian, author, tattoo artist

Style — Research & practice

Anthropologist and tattooist; author of Tattoo Traditions of Hawaiʻi (Mutual Publishing), a reference book on Hawaiian tattooing.

Founder, Frost City Tatau

Style — Freehand Polynesian

Founder of Frost City Tattoo in Midvale, Utah (PBS Utah). Fox 13 reported in 2017 that he specialises in motifs drawn from Polynesian tatau, has a waiting list of about seven months, and counts NFL players among his clients.

Founder, IslandTAT

Style — Freehand Polynesian compositions

The Coconet TV credits Chamorro tattoo artist Joshawa Elsas with recording artist Jidenna's Polynesian sleeve. He is the founder of IslandTAT and author of The Polynesian Tattoo: Code (both per his own studio and publisher listings).

Founder, Maia Ink

Style — Tā moko, kirituhi, traditional and contemporary designs

Of Ngāti Kahungunu and Falealili descent, Roberts founded Maia Ink, a Papakura studio offering tā moko and kirituhi alongside other traditional and contemporary designs. RNZ reports he is self-taught, bought his first tattoo machine in 2011, and has tattooed clients including SZA, Kehlani and RJ Hampton.

Founder, Mau Studio Ink

Style — Tā moko, Toi Māori design

Tā moko artist from Uawa and founder of Mau Studio Ink. He focused on Toi Māori from age 12, studied teaching at the University of Waikato, and trained in whakairo (carving) at the New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute (NZMACI) in Rotorua before teaching art and whakairo at a kura in Tūrangi.

Tā moko artist

Style — Tā moko, moko kauae

Tā moko artist based at Te Araroa whose work in the revival of moko kauae is the subject of Tracey Cooper's book Mokolife. Her mentors include tohunga moko Mark Kopua and Sir Derek Lardelli; the book draws on interviews with wāhine who received moko kauae from her, particularly in Ngāti Porou and Te Whānau-a-Apanui.

Tufuga tātatau (Art of Pain — Samoan Traditional Tattoo)

Style — Customary Samoan tatau — pe'a and malu

Samoa News (2023) describes him as a master tattooist who tattoos le tatau and le malu in Europe and the Pacific, marketing his work under his own name and as "Art of Pain — Samoan Traditional Tattoo"; it reported him tattooing at Tisa's Tattoo Festival in American Samoa. In the interview he said he began following his late father to tattoo events in 2011, learned the art by 2013 and became a soga'imiti in February 2014.

Tufuga ta tatau

Style — Customary Samoan tatau — pe'a and malu

Tufuga ta tatau (Li'aifaiva Imo Lavea Levi) who tattooed the malu of New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni. NZ Herald reports his clients have included boxer David Tua, actor Tanoai Reed and Sol3 Mio tenor Amitai Pati, and that each tatau client is gifted a special ie lavalava on completion.

Tufuga ta tatau

Style — Customary Samoan tatau — pe'a

Tufuga ta tatau and a founding member of Folauga o le Tatau Malaga Aganu'u Fa'asamoa (Fa'asamoa Arts), per Moonah Arts Centre in Tasmania, which hosted his traditional Samoan tattoo demonstrations in March 2025. An American Samoa Government festival programme lists him with American Samoa's Heritage Arts (Tatau) team, accompanied by his apprentice Mark Iulio.

Tufunga tātatau, Small Axe Studio

Style — Customary Tongan tātatau, hand-tapped

Of Tongan and Norwegian Sami ancestry, born in Nukuʻalofa. Te Papa describes his work as centred on the revival of tātatau faka-Tonga for over 20 years, built on historical texts, museum collections and Tongan oral tradition. The podcast Arciatecun notes he works from Small Axe Studio and received and learned tātatau from Su'a Sulu'ape Paulo II.

Tattoo artist, Mana'o Tattoo

Style — Contemporary Polynesian pattern design

Polynesian tattoo artist born in 1967 in Cholet, France, who spent his childhood in Tahiti. Wikipedia records that he has tattooed professionally since 1991 and took over his father's tattoo shop in Papeete, renaming it Mana'o Tattoo; his own site says he tattooed in Los Angeles for more than six years before returning to Tahiti, where he works from a private studio.

Tattooist

Style — Contemporary Samoan / Pasifika

Auckland tattooist of Chinese-Samoan descent with a studio in New Lynn. NZ Herald reports he was recognised as a senior artist by Creative New Zealand at the Arts Pasifika Awards and is responsible for designs on some of New Zealand's best-known sports stars.

Tufuga tā tatau

Style — Hand-tap tatau (pe'a & malu)

Brother of Su'a Sulu'ape Paulo II, described by Wikipedia as a respected master tattooist of the Sulu'ape family.

Tā moko artist

Style — Tā moko

Tā moko artist quoted in Artonview magazine (via Wikipedia's Tā moko article) on how the practice has changed; the same article notes he received moko to mark his graduation from a bachelor's degree in Māori studies. Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi reported in 2025 that his PhD research there focuses on reinstating moko as a rite of passage for Ngāti Awa.

Tattoo artist, China Sea Tattoo

Style — Old-school Hawaiian tattoo lineage

Tattoo Archive records that after Sailor Jerry Collins died in 1973, Malone bought Collins's Hotel Street shop in Honolulu, renamed it China Sea Tattoo Company and kept it until 2001.

Tattoo artist

Style — Tattoo artist

American tattoo artist from Pittsburgh, known for appearing on the reality series Miami Ink.

Tattoo artist

Style — Contemporary Polynesian (machine)

Tattoo artist listed on the Tatau Brand artist roster.

Tā moko artist; Professor at Toihoukura, EIT

Style — Tā moko

Tā moko artist, painter, carver and composer who affiliates to Ngāti Porou and Rongowhakaata. He is a professor at Toihoukura, EIT's school of Māori visual arts in Gisborne, and chairs the Te Uhi a Mataora tā moko arts collective. He received an Arts Foundation Laureate Award in 2004, was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2008 for services to Māori arts, in particular tā moko, and was knighted in 2020. He composed the All Blacks' Kapa o Pango haka (2005).

Tattoo artist

Style — Traditional Rapa Nui designs

Rapa Nui tattoo artist who works under the name Mokomae, taken from an ancestor of the Ure tribe. Correo Cultural (2011) reported he was invited to Caracas's Sixth World Body Art Meeting, that he is self-taught, credits Tricia Allen with teaching him hygiene practice, and tattoos only Polynesian designs. Moevarua identifies him as Luis "Tito" Hormazábal Araki.

Kā Uhi (titled practitioner)

Style — Kākau uhi (hand-tapped Hawaiian tattoo)

Hawaiian tattoo artist who works by hand-tapping with a mōlī at his home studio in Mākaha. Hawaiʻi Public Radio (2017) reported he had studied the practice for nearly three decades. Ka Wai Ola (2021) names him as a student of Keone Nunes holding the title Kā Uhi.

Kā Uhi (titled practitioner)

Style — Kākau uhi

Student of Keone Nunes who was given the title Kā Uhi at an ʻuniki (graduation) ceremony at Puʻu o Hulu, Waiʻanae, in 2019, as reported by Ka Wai Ola.

Tā moko artist and teacher; founding member, Moana Moko

Style — Tā moko

Tauranga tā moko artist and teacher with whakapapa links to Ngāti Rehua, Te Moutere o Aotea and Ngāti Maika. RNZ (2018) reports he began doing moko while studying at the University of Waikato in the mid-1990s and was a founding member of the Tauranga collective Moana Moko in 2010.

Tattoo artist and co-founder, Friendly Island Tattoo

Style — Polynesian tattoo

Tongan tattoo artist. ABC 10News (2026) reports he was born and raised on Vavaʻu, Tonga, moved to the United States roughly a decade ago, and works at his shop, Friendly Island Tattoo. The studio's own page says he and his wife started the studio in June 2024.

Tattoo artist; founder, Doko Ink

Style — Polynesian tattoo

Tongan tattoo artist trained in Aotearoa New Zealand. Pacific Media Network (2026) reports he left Tonga for Aotearoa in 2008, trained under Tongan tattooist Carl Cocker, and established Doko Ink, a studio in Erding, Germany, dedicated to Polynesian tattoo patterns.

Tattoo artist; founder, Kalia Tattoo

Style — Polynesian tattoo

Tongan tattoo artist and founder of Kalia Tattoo. In a 2014 Tat2X interview he said he had been tattooing since 2001, apprenticed at a studio in Kuala Lumpur, and ran his own tattoo shop in Auckland. Pacific Media Network (2026) names him as the Tongan tattooist who mentored Mana Fifita.

Tā moko artist, Toi Ake studio

Style — Tā moko

Tā moko artist with Toi Ake, a contemporary Māori art studio in Tūranga (Gisborne) specialising in tā moko (Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival). Toi Māori Aotearoa lists him on the committee of Te Uhi ā Mataora, the national tā moko collective, and Te Papa (2025) named him among the artists applying moko kanohi at Te Mātātuhi ki Te Papa.

Tā moko artist, Toi Ake studio

Style — Tā moko

Tā moko artist with Toi Ake, a contemporary Māori art studio in Tūranga (Gisborne) specialising in tā moko (Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival). Toi Māori Aotearoa lists Maia Gibbs on the committee of Te Uhi ā Mataora, the national tā moko collective, and Te Papa (2025) named her among the artists applying moko kanohi at Te Mātātuhi ki Te Papa.

Tattoo artist; founder, Kaʻeo Hawaii

Style — Polynesian tattoo

Kona tattoo artist. West Hawaii Today (2019) reports he had been self-employed as a tattoo artist since 2004 and opened his Kona shop, Kaʻeo Hawaii, in 2014. Big Island Now (2026) reports his daughter Mehana took over the business in 2022 and grew it into a creative studio in Kona, with space kept for him to tattoo.

Tattoo artist; Tatau Le Toa studio

Style — Hand-tapped Samoan tatau

Samoan tattoo artist who practises the traditional hand-tapping method. St. Albert Gazette reports he started learning at age seven alongside his uncle, and practises at Tatau Le Toa ("Tattoo the Strong"), described as St. Albert's first fully Indigenous-owned tattoo studio.

Tattoo artist; co-owner, Earthbound Tattoo Studio

Style — Neo-Polynesian, tribal

Native Hawaiian tattoo artist. NBC News (2017) reports she is co-owner of Earthbound Tattoo Studio in Sand City, California, and creates customized neo-Polynesian, tribal and lettering designs.

Tattoo artist; KareHa studio

Style — Cook Islands tatau

Cook Islands tattoo artist. Cook Islands News (2016) reports she grew up in New Zealand and returned to the Cook Islands to continue her work in Cook Islands body art. The Coconet features her tattoo and art studio, KareHa, in Rarotonga.

Tattoo artist; Temauri Tattoo Shop

Style — Patutiki, modern Polynesian, Samoan and Māori-style

iNKPPL Tattoo Magazine describes Temauri Jouot as a French tattoo artist with Polynesian roots who specialises in Polynesian styles including Patutiki, modern Polynesian, Samoan and Māori. His studio's own site lists Temauri Tattoo Shop in Le Thoronet, France.

Tattoo artist; founder, Hive Tattoo Art Gallery

Style — Māori, Marquesan and Polynesian tattoo

Collectible DRY Magazine and L'Officiel Italia both profile Luigi Marchini's Polynesian and Māori-style tattooing and his Hive Tattoo Art Gallery in Milan. His studio's site describes his work in Māori, Marquesan and Polynesian tattoos.

Tattoo artist; Soane Tattoo

Style — Wallisian, Samoan and Māori-inspired tattoo

Local news site Ré à la Hune profiles Soane Tauataina Paninia as a Polynesian tattoo artist originally from Wallis and Futuna who settled in La Flotte on Île de Ré, where he practises Māori-, Wallisian- and Samoan-inspired tattooing.

Tattoo artist; Wallace Tattoo Studio

Style — Polynesian and Marquesan tribal

Listed among the exhibiting artists of the Milano Tattoo Convention. His studio's own page says that since 2007 he has focused on traditional tribal styles, especially Polynesian and Marquesan.

Tufuga tātatau; Vaeau Family Studio

Style — Tatau

ABC Pacific (2024) describes Tyla Vaeau as a tufuga tātatau and one of the first Samoan women given the ʻau tool by the Sa Suʻa family. Vaeau Family Studio's site describes it as a studio space in Grey Lynn, Tāmaki Makaurau, taking bookings for Tyla and Hiram.

Tā moko artist; co-founder, Ngā Manu a Toi

Style — Tā moko

Te Ao Māori News (2023) reports she opened her own tā moko studio, Mau Te Rongo, in New Lynn. The studio's site, Ngā Manu a Toi, says she established Mau Te Rongo and co-founded Ngā Manu a Toi.

Tā moko artist; co-founder, Ngā Manu a Toi

Style — Tā moko

NZ Herald (2015) names Hirini Katene as a tā moko artist working at the House of Natives in Māngere Bridge. Ngā Manu a Toi's site says the New Lynn studio was formed when he and Wairingiringi Toi combined their studios.

Owner, Kāʻeo Hawaiʻi Tattoo & Creative Studio

Style — Hawaiian / Polynesian tattoo

Big Island Now (2026) reports Mehana Pilago took over her father Che Pilago's tattoo business in 2022 and grew it into the Kāʻeo Hawaiʻi Tattoo and Creative Studio, an artist collective in Kailua-Kona. The studio's site lists her among its artists.

Tattoo artist; founder, Tattoo by Patu

Style — Polynesian tattoo

TNTV reports Patu Mamatui has tattooed since age 11 and opened his own shop, Tattoo by Patu, in 2015. Outre-mer La 1ère profiled him as a figure of Tahiti's tattoo scene whose work draws on Tahitian culture.

Tattoo artist; Tupa Tatau Studio

Style — Rapa Nui / Polynesian tattoo

The National (UAE) describes Andrés Pakarati as an artist, tattooist and traditional Polynesian carver from Rapa Nui. His studio's site says he founded Tupa Tatau Studio in Hanga Roa.

Tattoo artist; East Coast Tattoos

Style — Freehand tribal / Pacific tattoo

Fiji Sun profiled Aston Prescott as a young artist who turned tattooing into a business and operates his own studio. East Coast Tattoos' site says the Suva studio is led by him and specialises in freehand tribal tattoos.

Tattoo artist; Maohi Room at W84 Tattoo

Style — Freehand Polynesian

A World Tattoo Events interview describes Rod Medina as a tattooist with more than 30 years' experience involved in Polynesian tattoos and culture, working in Switzerland. W84 Tattoo's site names him and the Maohi Room.

Tattoo artist; studio founder

Style — Oceanic South Seas tribal, incl. kirituhi

IJmuider Courant reports that Rob Deut and colleague Cees van Nobelen specialise in ethnic, Oceanic South Seas tribal tattooing, including the Māori kirituhi style, at his IJmuiden studio.

Owner, PolyAsh Tattoo

Style — Polynesian / Māori-style

Tattoo Spirit (2019) profiled PolyAsh Tattoo in Hamburg, describing Ashley Loth as specialised in Polynesian and Māori-style tattoos.

Resident tā moko artist, Te Puia

Style — Tā moko

NZ Herald / Rotorua Daily Post and RNZ covered the 2018 opening of the tā moko studio at Te Puia in Rotorua, naming Jacob Tautari as one of its resident tā moko artists.

Owner, Kayon Tattoo Atelier

Style — Polynesian, Māori-style and Indonesian motifs

The Jakarta Post (2020) profiled Bhoman F. Jamhari as a tattoo artist specialising in Polynesian, Māori and traditional Indonesian motifs, running his own studio in Berlin.

Owner, A-Town Tattoo

Style — Samoan tatau (hand tools)

NBC Los Angeles and the Orange County Register report he owns A-Town Tattoo in Garden Grove and performs the Samoan peʻa with hand tools; the Register says he studied hand tattooing with a prominent Samoan family. LAist described A-Town as one of the few US shops offering traditional Samoan tatau.

Tattoo artist, State of Grace Tattoo

Style — Polynesian tribal

Content Magazine profiled Sefa Samatua's modern Samoan/Polynesian tribal approach, inspired by her grandfather's peʻa. Tattoo Life lists her among State of Grace Tattoo's artists in San Jose.

Tattoo artist; founder, Tatau Legacy

Style — Society Islands tātau motifs, Patutiki

Hommes de Polynésie profiles Teaniva Dinard's work to revive tattoo motifs of the Society Islands. MOTU Magazine featured the artists of his Papeete shop, Tatau Legacy.

Tattoo artist; Moorea Tattoo

Style — Tahitian tatau

National Geographic's feature on Polynesian tattooing describes a tatau session with James Samuela at his studio on Moorea. His studio, Moorea Tattoo, has its own site naming him.

Curator & author, Te Papa

Style — History & documentation

Senior Curator Pacific Cultures at Te Papa, of Sāmoan and Irish descent. Co-author with Sébastien Galliot of Tatau: A History of Sāmoan Tattooing, which won an Ockham Award in 2019.

Filmmaker & advocate

Style — Documentary on Samoan tattooing

Writer and filmmaker who grew up in her father's village in Samoa; her documentaries include Savage Symbols, on Samoan tattooing (NZ On Screen).

Cultural knowledge holder

Style — Tahitian tatau

Subject of the book Tatu art n° 2: Raymond Teriirooterai Arioi Graffe — paroles d'ancien; credited with texts in the photo book Tahiti Tattoos (Taschen, 1998).

Author

Style — Patutiki research & practice

Author of Hamani haá tuhuka: Te patutiki, a Marquesan–French dictionary of Marquesan tattooing (Tiki éditions, 2011), followed by a second volume.

Artist & cultural practitioner

Style — Veiqia revival

Fijian artist who took part in The Veiqia Project from 2015 and co-facilitated a course on Fijian women, leadership and cultural knowledge (The Veiqia Project).

Artist, The Veiqia Project

Style — Veiqia (contemporary)

One of five Fijian artists who joined The Veiqia Project's shared research and museum visits in 2015 (The Veiqia Project).

Artist

Style — Samoan motif painting & printmaking

Samoan/New Zealand painter, sculptor and printmaker whose work blends traditional and contemporary Samoan visual motifs (Auckland Art Gallery).

Author & historian

Style — Tā moko scholarship

Co-author of Mau Moko: The World of Māori Tattoo (Penguin).

Researcher

Style — Tā moko scholarship

Co-author of Mau Moko: The World of Māori Tattoo and researcher at the University of Auckland on the psychology of tā moko.