Wednesday 28th November 2012



22-year-old Mat Wood (below) had his first tattoo at the tender age of 17. Five years later, he's adorned from head to toe with some pretty impressive and colourful artwork and has now opened his own tattoo studio in the centre of Chesterfield.



An artist and musician, Mat's love for all things scientific and spiritual has led him to pursue a career in which he hopes his skills will help his clients express their true selves through the art of tattooing and body adornment.

On leaving school, Mat trained as a hair stylist, securing an NVQ 2 qualification. "I didn't really know what I wanted to do." he explains. "What I did know, is that I wanted to create. The training was a pretty good experience, but it wasn't really allowing me to express my creativity in the way I wanted.

"I realised that using my art for body adornment was a great way of doing this so, after practising on myself and willing friends, I began working in a tattoo studio in Killamarsh, Sheffield."

Mat learned the fundamentals of the trade and gained a valuable insight into the running of the business during his time at the studio, but began to get frustrated when he wasn't able to integrate his own artwork into his tattooing. "All I could offer to clients was a portfolio of basic designs." he explained, "I wasn't really allowed to work with the client to come up with something custom and unique, something that they wanted and would totally suit their personality."



This frustration led Mat to looking into opening up his own studio, Surgeon Steady, "I had initial funding and support from the Prince's Trust, but the banks didn't want to know" he said.

The Trust recommended he approached the First Enterprise Business Agency (FEBA) for additional funding. East Midlands based FEBA provided Mat with a loan of £4,000 through its Small Loans for Business initiative.

"FEBA were great" he said. "The loan has covered the first three months' rent on the studio, allowed me to pay the local Council for 'change of use' of the premises and buy my couch and some other equipment. I was also assigned a mentor who was supportive and helpful."

FEBA is the leading business support organisation established to help pre-start and existing business owners throughout the region.

Small Loans for Business are managed by FEBA and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Central Government - Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Small Loans for Business provide start-up and existing businesses with loans of between £3,000 and £10,000 unsecured and £3,000 to £50,000 secured.

Mat already has plans for the future. Later this year, he's embarking on a degree course in Metaphysics, he plans on further pursuing his musical interest and is also hoping to expand the business by training up a fellow artist in the skill of tattooing.

"I've also started designing and making custom plugs and tunnels out of compressed polymer which is used as the body jewellery for the ancient technique of stretching. This particular body adornment is really growing in popularity and I am hoping to expand this side of the business in the future. No pun intended!"

Mat added: "I'm really grateful that FEBA have given me the assistance to make this vision come true. They were extremely supportive and I'm really looking forward to expressing my own style of art and further developing my skills to create art for my clients and help express their vision."

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