Community allowed artist to flourish
COVID19 was the catalyst for a Czechborn tattoo artist, living in Wanaka, to prioritise her passion for tattoo artistry, and set up her first business.
Restless Mouse Art owner Michaela (Mishka) Madrova had spent 10 years travelling around 40 countries before she arrived in New Zealand in 2019.
Working in hospitality, Ms Madrova continued making coffees locally through the start of 2020, until she had built up a stable income in tattoo art.
‘‘It [tattooing] was in my mind for a long time and I wanted to push it further, but you need to be in one place, which I hadn’t been, for the past 10 years,’’ she said.
In mid2020 she transitioned to selfemployment as a tattoo artist.
Prior to this, Ms Madrova had approached Wanaka tattoo studios, but did not hear back from them.
‘‘I really wanted to push my dream forward and I didn’t want to wait. I thought if I want to push my dream forward, and it’s the thing I should do, then I will definitely find the ways myself and that’s what happened,’’ she said.
Ms Madrova said the wider community support in Wanaka was what prompted her to take action and open her own studio.
‘‘Being here in this lovely community and all the friends I had made, it just made the dreams so easy,’’ she said.
‘‘Ever since I started, it felt like I had chosen the right path and was supported from the beginning.
Business growth had been steady and increasing, but due to the type of industry it is, Ms Madrova said it did fluctuate from day to day.
Reflecting on her business, she believed being selfemployed had allowed her to grow and learn faster than she would have if she had been working in a studio.
‘‘I do believe that it shortened the time for me. If you do it just by yourself, you push your limits a bit more too. If I was absorbing or watching [others in a tattoo studio], it might take time for me to express myself and learn how to do it.
‘‘So I feel like it actually was good for me and my business, and having to do it myself,’’ Ms Madrova said.
She eased into tattooing professionally with stick and poke, a method of using a needle to hand poke, rather than using a tattoo machine.
A friend who had several years experience, trained her in the method.
Ms Madrova practised on herself, before she decided to take on clients.
Since becoming fulltime two years ago, her tattoo business had built up enough financial stability for her to have begun exploring her next business venture which will be in the arena of fine art.
Ms Madrova plans to call New Zealand home for the time being and recently became a New Zealand resident.