Meet Our 10th Edition Ambassador - Dawid Falkowski (@dawid_falkowski_tattoo)

In the 10th edition of the LOVEINK Ambassador Program, we’re welcoming Dawid Falkowski, known on social media as @dawid_falkowski_tattoo, to our team.

A tattoo artist who traded mathematics for blackwork, dotwork, and thousands of tiny dots. Today, he’s increasingly focused on developing his own direction – wooden graphic tattoo, a combination of graphic tattooing and the distinctive texture of wood.

His story also shows that the path to becoming a tattoo artist doesn’t have to be obvious from the start. Sometimes, all it takes is realizing at the right moment that a life spent staring at spreadsheets definitely isn’t what you’re looking for.

From Mathematics to Tattooing

Dawid has a degree in mathematics. In theory, he should be spending his days working with numbers and, as he puts it, calculating things nobody else wants to calculate.

Fortunately, during his studies, he realized he couldn’t imagine himself living that kind of life.

He had always been drawn to drawing, and he started tattooing in 2014. His beginnings were far from a professional tattoo studio. As a self-taught artist, he experimented, made mistakes, and gained experience mainly through trial and error.

Eventually, he joined his first professional studio, and that’s when things really started moving forward.

Today, after more than a decade of tattooing, he still emphasizes that he’s constantly learning the craft.

The only difference is that his equipment is a little better, and the number of victims – as he jokingly puts it – is considerably smaller.

Freedom Is What Matters Most

Freedom is one of the things Dawid values most about tattooing.

An idea can begin entirely in his head. Then comes the sketch, a series of changes, and his own interpretation, until a few hours later, the design becomes part of someone’s body.

And stays there for years.

There’s something slightly absurd about it, but at the same time, it brings an incredible sense of satisfaction.

Every person also brings a different story and different anatomy. That means even a similar design can be approached differently every single time.

Black Ink, Contrast, and Lots of Dots

How does Dawid describe his style?

Graphic, black, and high-contrast. Lots of lines, even more dots, and lately, definitely a lot of wood.

For years, his work revolved around blackwork, graphic tattooing, and dotwork. Over time, however, he began developing a direction he calls wooden graphic tattoo.

It combines graphic tattooing with the texture of wood. Characters, animals, and other motifs start to look as though they’ve been carved from an old piece of wood and then transferred onto skin.

And that’s exactly the distinctive direction Dawid wants to keep developing.

Sometimes All It Takes Is Looking at an Old Piece of Wood

Inspiration doesn’t always have to come from a finished illustration.

Dawid draws inspiration from nature, old illustrations, mythology, and darker themes, but very often, his starting point is simply texture.

A crack in wood, a knot, or the pattern of its grain can catch his attention more than a finished image.

His designs also frequently feature skulls, animals, Slavic motifs, and all kinds of strange creatures.

The less obvious the subject, the more interesting it gets.

One Motif Forever? Skulls

If he had to choose one motif he could tattoo endlessly, the answer would be simple: skulls.

Human, animal, realistic, graphic, wooden, falling apart. They can be combined with plants, snakes, and countless other elements, creating something completely different every time.

The possibilities are practically endless.

Besides, let’s be real - skulls always look good.

A hundred years from now, we’ll probably still be tattooing them. Unless robots take tattoo artists’ jobs first.

His First “Victim” Was Himself

Dawid did his first tattoo on himself.

The reasoning was pretty logical: since he didn’t quite know what he was doing yet, he figured it would only be fair to test his skills on his own skin first.

Surprisingly, the tattoo didn’t turn out terribly, although it was, of course, later corrected and modified.

Today, Dawid looks back on it with a sense of nostalgia. It’s a reminder of where everything began, but also a good way to see just how far someone can come over more than a decade of work.

The Greatest Satisfaction? When Someone Recognizes Your Work Without Seeing Your Name

Dawid doesn’t point to one particular tattoo as the piece he’s most proud of.

What gives him much greater satisfaction is knowing that he can now see his own distinctive character in his work.

For years, he searched for his direction, drew inspiration from others, experimented with different techniques, and gradually let go of what didn’t feel right for him.

Today, he’s developing wooden graphic tattoo and feels that he’s found a direction that truly belongs to him.

That’s why the greatest compliment isn’t simply:

“Nice tattoo.”

What means much more is when someone sees a piece without a signature and says:

“That looks like Falkowski’s work.”

That’s when you know all those thousands of dots were worth something.

Tattoo Artist or Content Creator?

According to Dawid, one of the biggest challenges in today’s tattoo industry is standing out among the enormous amount of content while staying true to yourself.

There are plenty of tattoo artists, and thousands of genuinely impressive pieces appear online every single day.

Then there’s social media, trends, and algorithms. As a result, a tattoo artist today is expected to be part photographer, part filmmaker, part video editor, part marketer – and ideally still find time to record a few Reels.

The problem begins when, instead of developing our own style, we start creating primarily what happens to perform well on Instagram.

That’s why consistency is one of Dawid’s biggest challenges. Staying on his own path, developing a recognizable visual language, and not changing direction every time the internet falls in love with something new.

The Most Common Aftercare Mistake? Doing Too Much

A fresh tattoo doesn’t need an elaborate ritual performed five times a day under a full moon.

According to Dawid, one of the most common mistakes is simply overdoing it.

Too much cream, too much touching, and too much unnecessary experimenting.

A fresh tattoo means the skin has been damaged. What it needs most is proper hygiene, sensible aftercare, and time to regenerate. Adding more and more products or applying a very thick layer of cream won’t suddenly make the skin heal faster.

And then there’s the classic excuse that pretty much every tattoo artist has heard:

“I only scratched it a little bit.”

Don’t scratch it. We know it itches. We know it’s tempting. Keep your hands to yourself.

LOVEINK × Wooden Graphic?

From the very beginning, Dawid has been clear about what he expects from his collaboration with LOVEINK – he doesn’t want it to end with simply placing two logos next to each other.

What interests him much more is the opportunity to experiment and show a broader side of his world – not just finished tattoos, but also the process of creating designs.

During the collaboration, he’d particularly like to explore the wooden graphic direction and create pieces specifically for this project.

And if that helps his work reach new people, inspiring someone to choose a slightly more unconventional design instead of yet another tattoo found on Pinterest?

Everybody wins.

We’re happy to welcome Dawid to the LOVEINK Ambassador team for the 10th edition of the program.

His journey from mathematics to tattooing, more than a decade of experience, and consistent development of his own style demonstrate something that truly matters in this industry: a distinctive style isn’t something you find overnight. It’s something you build through years of experimentation, mistakes, and staying true to your own path.

Welcome to the LOVEINK team, Dawid! 🖤