Raphael Voirol (@raf_vo)
Profile
October 17, 2019
Words by Raphael Voirol, edited by Emma Clayton
Raphael Voirol is a tattoo collector born in Lausanne in 1980. He grew up near Lausanne and his father was a teacher at ECAL (Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne), so from a young age spent a lot of time in a very creative environment. He always loved drawing, particularly collectively with friends at school. With a pen always in hand, he learnt a lot at an art school called Atelier U. After a childhood and adolescence expressively spent, Voirol was impassioned by tattooing and finally got his first tattoo on his 18th birthday–a dragon on his shoulder. After this first experience, it was clear to Voirol that he wanted to fill his body with this art form. All his tattoos are inspired by manga or movies he loves, mainly reshaped in a Japanese style. He has tattoos from Sailor Bit, Filip Leu, Ernesto Borneo Headhunters, Matthieu Kesserling, Piero,Jeremy Justice, Gerry Carnelly, Hori Hiro, Toaster and Nico Cenamo–all friends and talented artists.
Voirol also turned his own hand to tattooing, and truly got to know this group of artists when Sailor Bit took him on as an apprentice in ethno tattoo. After 11 years, he is very happy and grateful to be able to make the art he loves known.
