The new unmissable book from Tattoo Life is now available, bringing Stizzo to join the great names of tattooing in The Great Books on The Art of Tattooing collection and taking fans of great tattooing into the beating heart of Traditional style.
Born in the ’80s and founder of Best of Times Tattoo in Milan, Stizzo presents himself to tattoo enthusiasts through his charismatic spirit and the energy of someone who tattoos others because he first lived it on his own skin. His journey into tattooing began with a youthful passion for punk rock, neighborhood life, and the raw culture that permeated Milan in the 1990s – his beloved city from the very beginning.
STIZZO. TIME WE’LL REMEMBER
ART BOOK + TRAVEL TOOL BOOK
The imagery of classic American tattooing seen through a European lens, blended with religious and folk influences that are deeply Italian, creates a new voice—personal, powerful, and instantly recognisable—in the direct, potent narrative style of Stizzo.
His vision has successfully rooted the iconography of classic American tattooing (which he embraced from the start) in the European – specifically Italian – imagination, blending it with religious and popular influences, to give it a new, personal, instantly recognizable voice. His style is powerful, narrative, and direct, just like him.
Time We’ll Remember, which we proudly present as publishers, is much more than a collection of flash. It’s a visual journey into his aesthetic and artistic research. Together with him, we immersed ourselves exploring hundreds of drawings he presented to us on papers he had collected over the years from antique markets – backs of framed drawings, papers used by other artists, to first perceive, and then convey, that sense of artistic gesture born from his hand and his personal history.
A carefully curated selection from the many works on paper that he entrusted to us like precious treasure.
“The driving force behind my work is an endless passion for drawing. This feeling of never being satisfied, of always looking ahead, to the next drawing, to the next tattoo.”
The book is the result of this collaboration between artist and publisher to select drawings and plates that would chronicle years of work, dedication and intuition. “Ninety percent of the drawings was created before the book was even conceived” Stizzo explains.
“I’m extremely proud of them because they all hold special memories from three to four years ago.” These drawings, like the tattoos themselves, speak of technique and memory, becoming the visual expression of an entire work philosophy.
“I think it’s essential for a tattoo artist, especially one working in my style, to continue this work on paper. It’s a form of respect for this art and, personally, I’d call it professionalism.”
In Time We’ll Remember, Stizzo’s style emerges in its full maturity: coherent, essential, deeply rooted in history.
“I looked to my origins: to my homeland, to our history. I reinterpreted early twentieth-century classic European tattooing, like Fercioni does, with a personal, simple and effective approach. I never stray from classic Traditional themes – I enrich and diversify them.”
Publishing this book with Tattoo Life was, for Stizzo, like a dream come true, never requested, awaited with discretion: “Given the artistic quality and production value of the books Miki Vialetto publishes, I was thrilled to accept. The news excited me so much that I immediately started creating new plates with renewed passion.”
The book serves as a message for both artist and publisher to address the younger generation who approach the tattoo world as if they’ve “already learned everything”. “I believe tattoo artists of my generation have a crucial role.
We must help young people understand the true value of this craft – how important it is to preserve and pass down a tattoo art form that is becoming rare. We can’t allow ourselves to fall into the trap of easy electronic influences that miseducate and homogenize everything and everyone.”
The heart of his work, today as always, remains drawing in its purest form: “There’s a magical moment when you sit with pencil in hand before a blank sheet of paper. In that moment I don’t want any filters. I want my instinct to be completely free to express itself. Only then do I succeed. Only then can I truly appreciate both myself and others.”
Time We’ll Remember is now available at tattoolifestore.com and Stizzo – through his artistic vision that has made drawing and consistency his defining voice – has officially joined the esteemed artists featured in “The Great Books on The Art of Tattooing,” the collection dedicated to the great masters of tattooing.
This is a work meant to be studied and collected, accompanied by the companion Tool Book that showcases his preparatory sketches, hundreds of studies of his subjects, drafts and concepts that offer insight into his creative mind and his drawing process.
STIZZO. TIME WE’LL REMEMBER
ART BOOK + TRAVEL TOOL BOOK
The imagery of classic American tattooing seen through a European lens, blended with religious and folk influences that are deeply Italian, creates a new voice—personal, powerful, and instantly recognisable—in the direct, potent narrative style of Stizzo.
