Born and raised in Antibes, France, Ossian was interested in tattoos from a young age but it was during an extended hospital stay after a workplace accident that he was able to rediscover his purpose for art. Although the accident resulted in the amputation of his thumb he came away focused on changing course and pursuing a tattooing apprenticeship. After several months of trying and being turned down by many local studios he decided to buy a tattoo machine and learn on himself, his girlfriend and a couple of friends. Gradually he began to take on his first paying clients with the goal of building a portfolio that could land him in a real tattoo shop.

One year into his young career he decided to move to a bigger city, Lyon, where he was hired in a street shop doing mainly linework tattoos. There he learned to build his skills dealing with a high volume of clients, tattooing as many as 8-9 a day. This was a great opportunity to improve his craft but his love for a more realistic approach pushed him to look for new challenges. After 2 years of tattooing in a shop he connected with Teodor Milev, owner of 681 Tattoos. His experience in this new studio shaped many ideas about the craft of tattooing and the potential of his work. Here he learnt more about the tattoo culture, and the importance of composition, saturation, high contrasts in a tattoo industry where social medias and polarized pictures were at the time the main concern of 90% of realism artists. Over this year working with Teo and the numerous guest artists he began to understand how critical proper saturation and contrast are and not to focus on making a tattoo that will look good on instagram but instead will look great healed.

Always striving to get better, Ossian went back in his hometown Antibes (south of France) and opened his own humble studio in a garage called Temps Mort Tattoo Studio. He started to make a name for himself around Tattoo Conventions but back at the studio he still felt something was missing. It was during a trip to Toronto in 2019 that he decided to uproot everything and take on the challenge of continuing his career in North America.

Even though the Covid pandemic threw a wrench in the works, after months of lockdowns the borders of Canada finally opened and in July 2021 Ossian made his way to Toronto with no plans other than tattooing. He first considered joining an existing studio because he wanted to be part of a collective of artists, but he saw a unique opportunity in this moment to take the leap and start a studio based on his own vision. Two months after landing in Canada, “La Manigance” opened its doors in a small office space downtown. Ossian began with only 2 artists by his side, Fleur and Ezzy. Month by month the team began to expand and La Manigance became a sprawling studio hosting a team of 17 people including a shop manager, a videographer, and 15 incredibly talented resident tattoo artists.

Never forgetting the impact guest artists had on his own development the shop has 3 work stations specifically for guests and it welcomes artists and friends from all around the globe on a consistent basis.

La Manigance is a concept based on exchanging knowledge, passion and great vibes being the key to lead to the best environment possible to create timeless art pieces on people’s skin.