A Northland tattoo artist has been crowned among the best in the world.

Kaeo-based tattoo artist Matt Jordan received first prize in black-and-grey at the “Olympics” of tattooing, the Gods of Ink tattoo convention in Frankfurt, Germany last week.

The prestigious event brings together the very best in the business and is invitation only. Jordan has been attending for the last nine years but this time received world-renowned recognition.

He described himself as “absolutely buzzing” after receiving first prize in the black-and-grey category.

“Even to go to the convention you have to be nominated and prove that you’re top in the world, I guess,” he said.

His winning art is featured on the body of his client, Lee Johnson.

Jordan described Johnson as “dedicated” to helping him with his craft, travelling from Melbourne and staying a week at a time to receive the art that now adorns his body.

“He’s been flying to Whangaroa from Melbourne and getting tattooed for a week at a time,” said Jordan, “he’s probably spent about 40 days getting a tattoo.”

“Not many people would spend that much time to collect this artwork, and fly to Germany on a whim.”

The process to build Johnson’s tattoo was a long one. The design alone took Jordan around six days, which included going to a stunt-riding school and a police dog academy to build the composition for his piece.

“He’s [Johnson] all about it so it’s really cool having clients like that,” said Jordan.

Jordan and his wife moved to Whangaroa three years ago from Auckland after spending holidays there. They would often go camping and fishing near pristine Matauri Bay and spend as much time as they could in the area.

“We just fell in love with the town and the community and decided to give it a go,” he said.

His studio is a major drawcard for visitors from all over the world, who are not only adorned with incredible body art from a world-recognised artist but experience the beauty of the Far North.

He described his studio as his “little paradise”.

Jordan was hard-working from the get-go, spending his earlier years working on farms. But he knew tattooing was something he wanted to pursue and eventually realised it was time to “give it a go”.

He described himself as “that kid” in the back of the class drawing and found himself dropping out of school at a young age.

His father was also a tattooist and passed away when Jordan was young, and has been part of his inspiration. With help and guidance from friends and family, Jordan perfected his art over time.

He insists it’s not natural talent he possesses, but drive.

“I don’t think anybody is naturally good at drawing,” he said, “It just takes a lot of hard work. I wasn’t necessarily the best artist, but, yeah, just lots of dedication and hard work.”

Jordan said black-and-grey tattooing was always a style he “admired the most” and found “the most aesthetically pleasing”.

“The problem is there are so many people that want to get into art,” he said, “but the most important thing is to stick it out and actively pursue improving yourself.

“You just have to really commit. It’s like anything, if you want to be really good, you have to work really hard,” he said. “You’ve got to love it to really want it.”