Meet Daniel Papillon | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Daniel Papillon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Daniel, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking.
Risk is everything,
I wouldn’t be where i am today without it, at times you lose everything, especially your mind, but when you finally get out the other side its all worth it. My whole life I’ve put myself in situations that require me to take risks, i guess i see life as a pendulum, sometimes the harder you push, the harder you get to experience both pain and pleasure. In other words your highs are high and your lows are low, i cant imagine how boring would it be to be sitting still in the middle not experiencing anything.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Tattooing is such a strange concept, your able to give someone something that they hold onto forever, its a way of spreading yourself through the word. Ive been tattooing for over 12 years now, its been my way to discover the world, discover people, learn about things that i would never have even thought about. Tattooing has been a symbol of rebellion, for a lot of artists, especially back then, it was a way for us to make quick money and work anywhere we wanted to, not obey any rules.
For me it gave me a purpose, showed me respect, now looking back in some ways it was like a bunch of us didn’t fit into society but we looked after each other and wanted to earn our place, honour among thieves. We were always trying to find our own style that was different to what other artists where doing, it was more about impressing each other than anyone else, i remember my friend and someone i always looked upto Liam Sparkes said to me “ If you cant bring anything new to tattooing, dont do it “ that has always stuck with me.
Was it easy? Most of the time you were living day to day, and if you were like me sometimes you only had 3 months in a country before you had to figure out where to go next. I dont think i ever made any real money in tattooing until 6 or 7 years in.
You know growing up i was obsessed with super hero’s, i never ever thought i could be anything but maybe deep down inside i thought maybe i would discover some type of secret power….. Everyone in life has a moment where they have the opportunity to defy what everyone else wants them to be, everyone has a character that they want to be in their heads, but most people are too afraid to become it, to live it. For me it became Le Papillon, I’ve created this character through every aspect of my life, Le Papillon is my secret power, and will always try to inspire others to find theirs.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Los Angeles,
Ive found that Silver lake / echo park and the arts district are my favourite areas.
Some of my favourite places include :

Coffee : etiquette coffee shop

Food : Bestia / Sticky Rice / Kodo

Activities : Rose bowl flea market / the last book store

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
GB Kim, my sensei. Not only has he given me the gift of tattooing but has also given me the meaning of family. GB met me in 2013, i was 18 years old, he had such an aura about him, still does. I think the first week we met, we drank a bunch of soju and he convinced me to stay in Korea and learn under him, i spent 7 years there.

Website: https://lepapillon-studio.com/

Instagram: Lepapillon.tattoo / Lepapillon.studio