Marlise Kotzé. Blackwork and fine line.

A one-chair private studio on Albert Road, Woodstock. One person a day, door locked, nobody watching.

See the work

One chair, one person a day

Naald is one room above Louw's framing shop on Albert Road in Woodstock. There is no shopfront, no bell and no walk-ins. You get the address and the gate code the day before, and for the hours you are booked the room is yours — no second machine running, no music you did not pick, nobody leaning in the doorway to watch. I draw blackwork, fine line and heavy botanical work, and I only tattoo what I have drawn for the person sitting in front of me. Flash sheets and other artists' designs are a no, politely. If you want something copied off a screen I will give you the names of two people in town who do that properly.

How I got here

2016 — Apprentice at Ysterhand in Bellville. Eighteen months of stencils, scrubbing tubes and drawing other people's ideas before anyone let me near skin.
2017 — First chair of my own at Bloedlyn on Long Street. Walk-ins, Saturday queues, and roughly four hundred small pieces in a year.
2019 — Put the flash folder in a drawer. Bought a rotary, went fine line, and started drawing every piece from the client's own reference instead of off the wall.
2021 — Two years of guest spots: Durban, Gqeberha, Windhoek, and three months in Rotterdam that finally taught me how to price a day properly.
2023 — Opened Naald in the room above the framing shop. One chair, one client a day, appointment only. The takings halved for eight months.
2026 — Same room, same chair. Booked eleven weeks out, and I have stopped apologising for the wait.

11

Years holding a machine.

First stencil in 2015, first paying client in 2016, and no other job since. Eight of those years were spent in somebody else's shop learning what I did not want mine to be.

2 400

Pieces finished and healed.

Counted off the appointment book, not guessed at. About a third of them are cover-ups or reworks of somebody else's bad afternoon.

Rooms I have guested in

Awards and paperwork

Best Healed Black & Grey — Cape Town Tattoo Expo, 2024

Judged on a half sleeve six months out of the wrap. Healed is the only category worth entering and the only one I put work into.

Best of Day, Sunday — Durban Ink Convention, 2022

A botanical back piece done across two days in a hall with no aircon. Still the best thing I have made.

Invited artist — Namibia Tattoo Week, 2023 and 2025

Asked back for the second one, which counts for a good deal more than being asked for the first.

City of Cape Town health certificate, renewed March 2026

Single-use needles and cartridges, a medical-grade autoclave, and sharps collected by a licensed contractor. The certificate hangs by the door if you want to read it.

Words

She redrew my ouma's handwriting four times before she was happy with it. I only ever saw the fourth one.

Nadia Petersen · Salt River · 2024

Six hours in the chair and not once did I feel like I was being hurried along to get to the next person. There was no next person.

Sipho Dlamini · Kenilworth · 2025

It was a cover-up of something stupid I got at nineteen in Hillbrow. She never once made me feel stupid about it.

Chantelle Fourie · Parow · 2023

First tattoo at fifty-three. She talked me through every stage, wrote the aftercare down because she knew I would forget, and the lines are still crisp two years on.

Errol Adams · Muizenberg · 2024

Books open for autumn

March through May is open now. I take four clients a week, the diary runs about eleven weeks ahead, and a R500 deposit holds your day and comes off the final price. Send the idea through even if the date feels far off.

Send an idea

Book a sitting

Albert Road, Woodstock — the address and gate code go out with the confirmation. WhatsApp 072 419 8830 if that is easier; I answer between sittings, never during one.