Passing the Torch, 1st of December 2025

Today I finally set up the TATT'S BIZ - Beyond the Chair – Course... No fireworks yet, but that’s tattooing: slow, steady, permanent. While the first enrolments roll in, I’m doing something more important: publishing the letter that has lived on my studio wall for almost ten years.

Word for word. No shrinking it, no chopping it up. Because every sentence in it is still guiding me.

“I want you to know I’m no different from anyone else — I question my worth and who I am, and I turn to people I trust for perspective. But in an industry full of tall-poppy behaviour and far too many assholes, finding those people isn’t easy.”

Here it is, exactly as Rob Krause (who was my mentor and first ever Boss in Tattooing 2004)  took the  time and wrote to me on 12 July 2016:

"Dear Floss,

Well hello there!

Wow, you totally amaze me! I am so impressed, happy, and proud that tattoo has looked after you, as you have looked after tattoo! As it always will; it is in your heart. So happy that you have made it in your life and are having a successful career. You deserve everything that it can provide. I wish there were more artists of your calibre in the trade. I am pretty well retired now, just doing oil painting and relaxing in the beautiful South Island. Dealing with the public burnt me out in the end, I think, and canvas doesn’t cause me any dramas lol. Sadly, many tattoo comrades that helped me along the way have passed on. Steve Johnson and Roger most recently, but that was an era, and you are on the next one. There are so many good people in this game, so don’t let the negative ones affect you, or the politics upset your mission. Just keep on doing what you are! I look forward to reading your book; bet it’s a great yarn coloured with your humour and honesty, and I look forward to seeing more of your work published. Your website is great, and I wish you well for your move.

Good on you, girl.

Love, Rob Krause."

Rob was my first real mentor, I am thankful for his compassion and support.

I’d like to mention my industry positives:

Rob Krause (of course), and Noel Messer (Talisman Tattoo, Te Atatu), who gave every hungry kid a shot — including me. Noel’s still going strong in Spokane, and I’m counting the days until we hit the USA conventions together again.

And then there are the ones whose machines are quiet now:

• Phil Mathias – College Hill, Auckland’s Alien & UFO (EAP) themed shop. As young ones, we’d save for weeks on the Hibiscus Coast just to get inked there. I even airbrushed the tattoo he did for me onto my truck’s tailgate and drove all the way back just to show him. Embarrassed now by how cheesy that was — but he was so encouraging.

• Steve Johnson – City of Ink, Christchurch. NZ’s most awarded artist. Gone 2011.

• Roger Ingerton – Roger’s Tattoo Art, Cuba Street. Opened 1977. Living galleries walking the streets.

• Merv O’Connor – Auckland’s Granddaddy.

• Blair – Takapuna – Tattooed my first and helped me bond with my father and like myself a little more.

These pioneers pushed the industry forward and challenged the stigma, allowing us to call this a career.

Rob once said, “There are so many good people in this game, so don’t let the negative ones affect you, or the politics upset your mission. Just keep on doing what you are.”

I still feel like that young and impressionable artist starting out — wanting to do right and be a good girl (now woman) by him — so today I’m proud to say I’m still keeping that promise.

Beyond the Chair is the toolkit beyond what they handed me. And if I don’t pass this down, who will? I’m starting with the business, Beyond the Chair, and I hope to grow it so large that we can integrate it into formal apprenticeships, a structured model, and a competency certificate sign-off — just like the automotive industry’s Recognised Prior Learning for all of us golden oldies. Removing risk and making the industry stronger.

Rob, Phil, Steve, Roger, Merv — your ink still walks taller than most of today’s “legends”. RIP.

You see, most people remember their artists. We make such an impression, and I think society forgets that people save and choose to spend their hard-earned money with us. They don’t have to be subjected to the industry chaos. They deserve a really good experience.

The next era is live. We carve the path, and we pass it down — it’s the unwritten rule.

Who is your mentor?

Who do you look up to?

Who has your back and wished you well in your own career?

We all need someone.

Erika “Floss” Armstrong

P.S. Share this if it hits.

Tag the old-school legend who changed your path.

Let’s keep their names loud.

TATT'S BIZ