About Needled

Welcome to Needled—site of the very finest tattoo art and video on the planet. Come on in and take a look…we bet you won’t stop at just one. Tattoo is not a fad. It’s not a fashion. It’s a passion. It’s an art. It’s a lifestyle. Needled understands tattoo because we live it. We know that body art aficionados cannot be put into neat boxes: they are lawyers with tattooed bodysuits under Armani suits, tech gurus with backpieces, and soccer moms with sleeves. They are tattoo virgins considering a first piece, collectors working on their twentieth, and those just visiting for the sheer fascination of it all.

Drill down into Needled’s exceptional library of original video covering the world’s most amazing artists, shops, and shows. Check out our gallery of fine art tattoos. Peruse the artist and shop pages packed with contact information and profiles. Explore the histories that detail the roots of virtually every tattoo genre. We have it all covered, and then some, including personal adornment by the best tattoo artists in the world.

Also, be sure to check out our infamous Needled blog, written daily from her Belgian outpost by our very own tattooed muse, Marisa DiMattia. With an edgy look at the fine art and culture of the world of tattoos, she covers artist profiles, event listings, convention news, tattoo’s impact on society, and more.

Needled. High brow for the underground. Tattoo couture.

About Marisa DiMattia

Marisa DiMattia is a NY licensed attorney and writer with an intense passion for tattoos, so much so that she married her tattoo artist; acclaimed blackwork specialist Daniel DiMattia of Calypso Tattoo in Belgium. Marisa divides her time between Brooklyn, Belgium, and international tattoo art expos all over the world. Marisa consults for the biggest international law firms in Brussels on legal writing and communication while also educating the largest tattoo blog audience online on the artistry of tattoo versus mistakes made over spring break. She seamlessly traverses corporate culture and the counter-culture almost daily, and is equally comfortable in conservative suits as she is in ripped jeans.

Considered an expert in modern tattoo culture, she has been written about in Time Magazine, the NY Times, the NY Times Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, Denver Post, International Herald Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, San Francisco Chronicle, and many other popular newspapers, magazines, and online media. In fact, Needled was a Yahoo Pick, featured on AOL TV, and MSNBCs Clicked, among many others. Moreover, Marisa has been profiled in almost every major tattoo industry publication worldwide; garnering credibility among the international tattoo community as well as mainstream media.

Marisa is licensed by the NY State Bar (since 1997). She also holds an MS in journalism from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She has written for publications such as Glamour, Salon, Bust, Frommers Budget Travel; among many others.

Her goal is to see custom tattooing risen to the level of fine art.