His style blends bold colours, surreal and collage-inspired compositions, and playful, doodle-like details influenced by artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. Originally from Seoul and now based in London, Xamo loves to express his creativity through small tattoos with subtle meanings and visual fragments hidden within each piece — almost like leaving clues for people to discover, as he reveals in this exclusive chat with Tattoo Life.
Hi Xamo, welcome to Tattoo Life, where are you from?
Hi! Nice to meet you! I’m originally from Seoul, Korea, and I’m currently based in London, UK.
How did you start your career in tattooing?
Honestly, I didn’t start tattooing for any deep or serious reason. I first got into it back in 2018 when my cousin was working as a tattoo artist. Watching her work looked fun, cool, and so free and it really inspired me to get into tattooing. At that time, I had never drawn before, so I bought a sketchbook and spent over a year just drawing nonstop, trying to find my own style.
Once I felt like I had built a sense of direction in my art, I joined a studio in Seoul to start learning tattooing properly. When I first began learning to tattoo, I was still a student, so for about 4–5 years I had to balance university, part-time jobs, and tattooing all at once. It was a really busy and intense time in my life. But after graduating in the summer of 2022, I quit my part-time jobs and finally began working full-time as a tattoo artist.
Do you have a background in art school or in graphic design?
My major was French Language and Literature so I’m completely self-taught haha!
I started drawing after I became interested in tattooing, so didn’t study art formally, but I’ve built my own path through constant self-study and experimentation. The more I drew, the more I started to enjoy creating something from nothing. It became such a fun and meaningful process for me, and I wanted to keep improving my art. Even now, I constantly think about how I can develop my drawings and make them look better in my own way.
Your style is very distinctive, you love tattooing interesting, surreal subjects with bold colors. What do you think is most important to highlight about your work?”
What matters most to me is that when someone sees my work, they can instantly recognize it as mine, not because of a repeated symbol or subject, but through the overall feeling and visual identity. That has always been my number-one goal since I first started drawing and tattooing.
My style mixes bold colours, surreal and collage-inspired compositions, and playful doodle-like details, influenced by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, who layered and spontaneous energy I really admire. I love hiding small meanings and visual fragments inside each piece, almost like leaving clues for people to discover. Recently, over 80% of my tattoos are custom designs. I spend a lot of time talking with clients, listening to their personal stories and the elements that hold meaning for them.
Then I blend those stories with my own visual language to create something truly unique.
This process helps me to connect more deeply with my clients. At the same time, I’m always trying to find the right balance between my creative direction as an artist and what clients want. Sometimes my designs can lean more toward the client’s side, but I’ve been learning how to keep that balance while staying true to my own vision. My tattoos can feel like doodles, illustrations, collages, or sometimes surreal pieces. But overall, they’re just my style! Technically, my style keeps evolving. My colours, textures, and forms change slightly as I grow, but the core feeling like raw, expressive, collage-like energy will remain the same.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
My overall style has been strongly inspired by artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, as I really love works that are full of things to look at and think about, like some pieces that make you notice hidden meanings and details the more you look. I’ve always been more drawn to surreal and imaginative art rather than realistic depictions, so I get a lot of inspiration from surrealist artists as well.
Recently, since living in the UK, I’ve been traveling a lot around Europe and have become fascinated by old, vintage places and objects I’ve encountered during my trips. I think many of my recent ideas come from things I see in everyday life and while traveling. But honestly, I’m the kind of person who’s inspired by many different things. I have a lot of curiosity and interests, so whenever I’m exposed to a new environment or culture, it naturally gives me fresh inspiration for my work.
Are there particular subjects you especially love to draw and tattoo?
I don’t really have a fixed subject that I always draw or tattoo. Each design is usually based on a different story. Since most of my work comes from my clients’ ideas and personal elements that mean something to them, it’s hard to repeat the same theme.
But what I enjoy the most is actually creating freely, without sticking to any rules or limits.
I often combine random elements that come to my mind or that are right in front of me when I draw, and it’s always exciting when those unexpected combinations turn into something beautiful and balanced. As I said earlier, as I’ve been traveling around Europe recently, I’ve been inspired by old, vintage things I’ve seen along the way. So these days, I find it interesting to mix those vintage elements with modern, everyday objects from the 2020s, it’s like creating a bridge between different eras in one piece.
Do you have an interest in pop art?
Yes, I’m definitely interested in pop art! I’ve always enjoyed the works of artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. I love how pop art takes familiar, existing images and reinterprets them in a bold and playful way. I also find a lot of fun in combining and reworking existing elements to create something new in my own style. The idea of repetition in pop art really fascinates me. I often repeat small details or symbols within my tattoos as a way to build identity and make my work instantly recognisable.
Size is also very specific; small tattoos with a lot of details and spots of colors, do you agree?
Yes, that’s true! My tattoos are not very large, but they contain a lot of details and colour combinations. Most of my pieces are roughly hand-sized, and even within that limited space, I like to make the composition feel full and visually strong. I always try to balance many small elements and bright colours to make the design look dynamic and alive.
Recently, I’ve been challenging myself with larger pieces, because sometimes small sizes can limit how much I can express.
I’ve realised that working on a bigger scale allows me to be freer and showcase my creativity even better. As for colours, I naturally tend to use primary tones “red, blue, green, and yellow” because they give a bold and vibrant look. I was first inspired by old-school tattoos that used those strong primary colours. Lately, though, I’ve been experimenting with more muted, vintage tones to add a slightly softer and aged feeling to my work. So maybe in the future, my colour palette will keep evolving too!
Looking ahead, what are the next steps you’d like to take?
For my next step, I really want to keep experimenting and trying new things! To make my style even stronger and more defined. I want to grow both creatively and technically, improving my colour work, line quality, and the healing quality. Until now, I’ve mostly just focused on tattooing itself, without doing much outside of it. But now I want to step out of that bubble. Meeting other artists, learn from them, and experience more. Starting in 2026, I’ll join several tattoo conventions for the first time in my tattoo career. I think being in that kind of environment, surrounded by amazing artists from all over the world, will help me grow a lot and share my work with a wider audience.
I’m really looking forward to this next chapter. It feels like the beginning of something new and exciting for me!
Do you want to close this chat adding something?
Thank you so much for this opportunity to share my story. I’ll keep pushing my creativity further and exploring new directions. I hope my work can inspire others the same way other artists have inspired me. And I’m really looking forward to what’s next. This is just the beginning!
