Meet Thibault Gulielmo | Tattoo Artist

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

Hi Thibault, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I worked for bosses for a long time and I was also in the military for a period of my life.
Everything always went well and I didn’t have to complain about my conditions but like everyone else the idea of ​​independence and freedom always lingered in the background.
The coincidence of life meant that I was able to practice for a certain time an artistic passion, tattooing, while continuing to work and ensuring a reliable and stable income and then one day the decision presented itself to me, I had to choose between continuing where I was or embarking on the adventure of entrepreneurship and becoming independent with all the risks that this entails, but after having skilfully prepared the ground and weighed the pros and cons it was finally time of get started.
Today, 20 years later, life has proven to me that I made the right choices, despite the pitfalls and certain difficulties, the gamble was worth it.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a tattoo artist, which means being a creator or adapter of artistic ideas specializing in dermo-pigmentation.
Basically I adapt my clients’ ideas/desires into drawings in order to be able to transfer them using suitable devices into the skin.

I am appreciated in my field for the attention I give to my work and to my clients, whether it is for a full back or a small minimalist tattoo, everyone has the right to the same attention. . . And I also hope for the quality of my tattoos.

I am proud to have been able, by coming out of not much and being self-made (with the support of my loved ones anyway) to be able to provide, 25 years later, for a family of 7 despite the distance and the difficulties that the distance that we imposed on ourselves with my wife and our children can represent by coming here to the United States.

Nothing is ever easy and if it’s too easy it’s not fun but if you do things correctly with dedication and courage it usually goes well.

I think what sets me apart from others is my versatility, I am able to satisfy “almost” all requests (apart from very specific things like ultra-realism etc.) and my speed of execution while maintaining certain quality.

I have never encountered any real difficulties, other than having to make choices.
1st: Leave a secure and well-paid job to open a tattoo shop without any certainties!
2nd: leave everything and go to the other side of the world to start all over again!
The biggest difficulty here would be the people who tell you that it won’t work!
Other than that I’ve been lucky that everything has gone well so far.

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.
Firstly the tourist stuff, Hollywood, Venice, Santa Monica, Downtown etc. . .
The numerous museums, some of which are free. . . and take a walk in Silverlake which is one of my favorite neighborhoods.
I would take him for a beer at the Snakepit on Melrose before getting a souvenir tattoo at Body Electric or The Tattoo Room!
We could go eat a Pretzel/Sausage with cabbage at the Wirtshaus German Restaurant on La Brea or drink a tequila with a Ceviche at El Carmen on 3rd or a big American burger at The JunkYard at Simi Valley.
Obviously I would cross the desert to go waste some tickets in Vegas but on the road I would show him the ghost town of Calico, a milkshake at Peggy Sue’s 50’s Diner on the road to Yermo before taking route 66 and spending a night in the motel lost in the middle of the desert in Shoshone before entering Death Valley.
I’m not sure that a single week is enough so I would postpone his return ticket in order to spend more time together discovering the region.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
When I started tattooing 20 years ago, the Internet and YouTube were still in their infancy, so you had to fend for yourself and open the doors of tattoo parlors and meet others in order to glean some information, the first to really help me at that time were two Parisian tattoo artists Remy and Christophe from All Tattoo who opened their doors to me and left my soles lying around at their place, leaving me look, ask questions, in short as an apprentice but not an official, later when I had to open my own shop they were also there to better guide me, so I owe my beginnings to them.

Then the person who really helped me was my last boss who, understanding that I aspired to other horizons, offered to help me get started and guarantee me a return in the event of failure, which really allowed me to leave with a free mind and without fear, thank you again Alain.

And finally, all the people who believed in me, my wife, my family and friends who despite the madness of the situation believed in me and always supported me.

Thanks everyone!

Website: https://thetattooroom.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tibotattoo?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

Image Credits
Thibault Gulielmo