Sono is an experienced tattoo artist from Jogjakarta in Central Java, Indonesia.
He has been creating skin art for the past 12 years, and his talents have taken him all over the Indonesia islands and further to Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Europe. For now, he calls the island of Bali home.
Sono focuses on custom designs, with each tattoo being a unique and individual piece of art. Each design is tailor-made for the client based on their inspiration and ideas and then integrated with Sono’s specific tattooing style.
His work is heavily influenced by a rich cultural heritage and inspired by Indonesian ornaments, carvings, statues, batik and traditional fabrics.
Pointillism—Sono is skilled in pointillist (dot work) tattoo style and combines this with Indonesian decorative and tribal motifs.
Javanese script—Sono specialises in ancient Javanese script, a form of Sanskrit, the original language of Java.
Traditional tattoo—As well as tattooing by machine, Sono can create beautiful and personal skin art using traditional tattooing techniques.
Hand tapping—This is a method of tattooing originating from Borneo and the Mentawaii Islands. This tattoo style creates unique designs using wooden tapping sticks. This is done with an assistant, who stretches the skin for this technique. People will describe the hand-tapping tattoo experience as a more gentle and meditative experience with only the sound of the tapping sticks.
Hand poke—The artist uses a stick and needle to create a design dot by dot, giving a more subtle and delicate result from using a machine. Clients often say hand poking is less painful and a different feeling from the tattoo machine.