A name that's already there
In some worlds, a name walks in before you do. In tattooing, the name Chaudesaigues has been around for a long time. It's also a village in the Cantal, but in this industry it's mostly tied to the craft.
My grandfather on my father's side was a tattoo artist. My father, Stéphane Chaudesaigues, opened Graphicaderme in Avignon in 1986. My uncle Patrick Chaudesaigues tattoos, paints and builds machines, his kids tattoo too. My brothers Steven and Wesley are both tattoo artists. My mother Chantal was tattooing when my parents met, she does piercing now. Not owning a machine in my family is genuinely a talking point.
I grew up in the middle of all of it. It was just normal. Home, work, family, all the same thing. No big revelation, no moment of clarity. I just grew up inside it.
That was our version of holidays
International conventions were my everyday. The National Tattoo Association in Las Vegas, the Queen Mary. I was somewhere between five and ten. To me it was a holiday, running around, being the kid in the room. To my parents, it was work.
My father also created Cantal Ink The Skin in Chaudes-Aigues, the village that carries our family name. Five editions, an international lineup of artists. I was fourteen. To everyone else it was an event. To me it was just the weekend.
Nikko Hurtado, Jeff Gogue, Shane O'Neill, Hannah Aitchison, Joe Capobianco. We'd see them at conventions, over dinner. I had no idea who they actually were at the time. That clicked years later, when I started looking for my own references. The global recognition, you work that out after the fact.
What it gives you is an eye. Formed early, quietly, before you even know you're going to need it.
How people look at you
When I introduce myself, all of that context is already in the room. Some people know my father's work, some know my uncle's. The name lands before I've said anything about my own practice.
The attention that comes with it is interesting. Sometimes warm, sometimes demanding. Sometimes both at once, which keeps things lively! In tattooing, people watch. They compare. Quite a lot, actually.
Which isn't dramatic, it's just how it works. And honestly, it's a very good reason to never do things halfway.
Finding your own style
Leaning on the name would be easy. So would distancing yourself from it to prove you exist on your own terms. Neither feels right.
What took time was understanding that my path didn't need to be a continuation or a reaction. It could just be mine. Art Nouveau, colour, Art Deco influences, compositions that follow the body, none of that came from inheritance or rebellion. It came from what genuinely moves me. Some of it connects back further than I realised, to Tamara de Lempicka and what my father passed on without either of us knowing it.
The name is part of my story, but it certainly doesn't do the work for me. It doesn't draw for me either. After the name, there's the work.
The rest isn't mine to claim — and I can't wait to write what comes next.
See my portfolio
A tattoo studio founded by my father Stéphane Chaudesaigues in Avignon in 1986. One of the longest-running and most respected studios in France. Find out more.
Genuinely, yes. My grandfather, my father, my uncle, my brothers, my mother. Holidays meant Las Vegas or the Queen Mary, surrounded by some of the most respected tattoo artists in the world. At the time, it just felt normal.
An international tattoo convention created by my father in Chaudes-Aigues, the village in the Cantal that carries our family name. Five editions, artists travelling from across the world to take part.
It creates a context, yes. But it doesn't make anything easier in practice. If anything, the expectations are higher and the scrutiny is sharper. After the name, there's still the work.
No ! I feel like I'm on my own path. The name is part of my story, it doesn't sum it up — and my father has always guided me.
Art Nouveau colour, with Art Deco influences. Lines that follow the body, compositions built to last.
My father Stéphane, my uncle Patrick, my brothers Steven and Wesley, and my mother Chantal who does piercing now.
At Graphicaderme in Avignon, in Chaudes-Aigues in the Cantal, and as a guest artist in London. See the portfolio or book a session.
