Lexus Teams With an Artist to Create a Tattooed Car

Tattoo artists hear some pretty strange requests throughout their careers, but this may be the first time that an artist was asked to tattoo a brand new Lexus. Tattoo artist Claudia De Sabe, who works out of London’s Red Point Tattoo, collaborated with the Japanese automotive company to create the world’s first tattooed car. 

The project was a way to celebrate the Lexus’s history of fine craftsmanship, while also shining a light on the UX line of hybrid compact SUVs. De Sabe did more than just give the car a paint job reminiscent of tattoo art, she did a one-of-a-kind tattoo using a Dremel drill. 

De Sabe worked alongside her husband and fellow tattoo artist Yutaro to create the tattoo. The project took a series of five eight-hour days in order to complete, which would be a pretty rigorous tattooing session. Something tells us that the car probably didn’t need to tap out from the pain or take a bunch of smoke breaks, prolonging the process. 

“When you tattoo a person, you’re mainly thinking about their body structure and how the muscles and all the tissues go onto the skeleton,” De Sabe explains. “So I saw the car in exactly the same way.” 

Much like on a traditional irezumi bodysuit, the design De Sabe used for the Lexus takes advantage of the natural shape and flow of its subject. 

“My main inspiration for the design of the car was just all of the beautiful artwork that I’ve seen in Japan,” De Sabe says. “In the temples, ukiyo-e prints, all of that artistic background. That also is very much translated and used in Japanese tattooing.” 

The car is staggeringly beautiful. Much better than the sticker covered monstrosity in my driveway. Unfortunately the car isn’t being mass produced, this is a one-off piece of art that will set you back approximately $146,000. 

You can see more about how De Sabe created the tattoo in the video below.