8 ready-made designs
Tribal tattoo flash
Tribal covers the oldest tattooing on earth. Polynesian tatau — the word English took 'tattoo' from — goes back some three thousand years, and the Polynesian Triangle holds dozens of distinct traditions rather than one: Samoan, Maori, Marquesan, Tongan and Hawaiian each have their own conventions. All are built from solid black banding, repeating rows of small motifs, and negative space used as carefully as the ink. The patterns are a language: spearheads, turtle shells, ocean waves and enata figures traditionally record genealogy, rank and the milestones of a life.
What to know about tribal work
- The motifs mean things, and the words matter too. Maori ta moko is reserved for Maori and carries ancestral identity; kirituhi is the term for Maori-style work made for anyone else, and not every artist is entitled to practise or claim either. Read what you are choosing and have the conversation with your artist before you book.
- It ages better than almost anything. Solid black in bold shapes is the most durable mark you can make; well-drawn tribal still reads cleanly after thirty years.
- It is drawn to the body, not onto it. Traditional work follows muscle and bone, so expect your artist to adapt any flash design to your own shoulder, arm or leg rather than transfer it flat.
Where it sits best
Shoulders, upper arms, chests and calves are the traditional homes for this work, because the pattern is meant to wrap and follow the shape of the limb. Give it the room to do that — tribal cramped into a small flat square loses the flow that makes it work.