The personal trigger was pretty simple — and exactly because of that, obvious: my wife works in a tattoo and piercing studio.
And I experienced what that means day to day. Printing consents again and again. Stapling. Punching. Having customers fill them out. Filing them afterwards. And not once a day, but constantly — always when more important things should be happening.
For me it was immediately clear: this isn’t just
“a bit of admin. It’s a process that eats time every single day — for something that can be solved cleanly with technology.”
What really bothered me about it
First, it’s unnecessary work. Not in the sense of “people are lazy”, but in the sense of: it’s manual labor simply because it’s always been done that way.
Second, it creates paper waste for years. Many of these documents have to be stored for a long time — which means stacks, folders, storage space. For something that really just needs to be documented securely.
Third, it gets really painful when it comes to claims: when a request comes in and you need that one specific consent, it often turns into a search mission that realistically nobody enjoys — and that can go wrong under stress. You’re not looking for “a document”, you’re looking for a tiny sheet in years of paper archives.
Why existing solutions didn’t fit for me
Of course, there are digital alternatives. Some are technically well built and look modern.
What bothered me wasn’t so much the tech, but the orientation: many solutions are designed as platforms. Data sits externally, processes are predefined, and studios have to adapt — not the other way around.
On top of that, feature bundles are useful for some studios but not for others. Calendars, CRM or marketing features are often baked in, even if they’re not needed day to day.
A real option to self-host and keep full control over data was missing for me. With sensitive information and GDPR-relevant data, that isn’t a side note — it’s decisive.
What TattooMate was actually built for
At the start, TattooMate wasn’t a business. That matters to me. I didn’t build it to “enter the market” or to spin up a SaaS.
I built it to take that work off my wife’s shoulders. And as a bonus goal: less paper waste. More sustainability, without the studio having to fight for it.
Only when other studios asked if they could use it too did it slowly become a product. Not planned. Not the focus. More like: “Okay — if this helps multiple studios, we’ll do it properly.”
The mindset behind it
TattooMate should be a tool. Not a data collector. Not a calendar requirement. Not a system that forces studios into a platform.
It’s about clean proof, less stress in daily work, and real control over your own data. If that sounds like you, TattooMate fits.
That applies here too — so no cookie banner is needed.
If you’re just looking for any online form, TattooMate probably isn’t the right tool.
But if you want a solution that takes studio life seriously and doesn’t follow Silicon-Valley logic, TattooMate fits.