Behind the Scenes...


Olinjär is a quarterly trade journal focusing on Tattoo culture and lifestyle. Published quarterly by Jeff Gogué and myself. Our graphic designer is Jesse Springer of Springer Design in Eugene, Oregon, and Jeff's son Andrew does some of our photography. My amazing friend Karly handles most of the shipping (who unfortunately broke her hand during this issue’s shipping) …we’re doing our best with the help of her mom and daughter, who keep the assembly line flowing by loading the stickers and printing the labels from their home office. We are proud to be a tattoo family creating a publication for tattooers and lovers of tattoos. We have no funding outside of our own tattooing, and subscribers; we do this because we love contributing to a culture and community that has given us so much. 

The 6 color offset machine that prints Olinjär

Our magazine is printed locally at B&B Print Source in Tigard, Oregon, and we get to pick up the issues from Matt Miali in person, getting to hear and smell the offset printing in the background. 

Jeff loading issue 2.1 into the truck during the rain…

Karly (broken hand and all) and her daughter Lilly, loading up issues to ship!

Olinjär is a word that Jeff told me about years ago. He said that he had been reading books on spirituality and quantum theory, exploring the concept of non-linear thinking...and he loved the term non-linear. After looking up it's origins and all the translations, he found the Swedish translation and fell in love with it's attractive look and unique sound. It was after some convention, heading home, that he brought it up, just casual conversation, and I didn't think much of it.

Spring of 2022, a couple of years after the pandemic's peak and fairly new into our relationship, we were working normal hours at the shop and spending weekends taking road trips, camping, "surfing"(I mostly get beat up in the waves) and long talks by the campfire. We talked about tattooing nonstop. Jeff at 23 years of tattooing and me at 14 years, it seemed to be an endless conversation about experiences and the highs and lows of being a tattooer. Inevitably, the conversation usually ended up in a negative spiral of frustration, venting about this or that... until one night, by the fire, we decided to slow that train and board another. We consciously decided to start focusing on what we love and appreciate about this culture we are a part of.

Camp setup…the night Olinär came to fruition…

I mentioned that it would be great if there were a printed, collectible, tangible magazine that you could hold and enjoy, something that showcases what we love about tattooing and this lifestyle. We paused, glanced at each other… And Olinjär was born. Why not us?

Do we have the education, qualifications, or 100% support from every person involved in tattooing? Who knows, but it's better to follow your dream than wait for some perfect moment of approval where everyone cheers you on. 

Ultimately, we have loved the creation of this project and feel it's just beginning. Any time not tattooing is now full of excited conversation of who ,what and where to include in the next issue ( We are usually on the couch with our frenchies typing away most evenings and weekends) it’s such a fulfilling way to spend time, it never feels like work, and we are so thankful for your support and contributions. The friendships created and strengthened are priceless; we are eager and excited for what's to come. 

Laura Jade

First official Olinjär lunch meeting. Victoria, BC

Print proofs of 1.1 on the dining room table…

Excitement and nerves before shipping out for the first time!

Message found the week we decided to make this dream a reality.








What Now?

By Jeff Gogué

He called me out from under the blue plastic roof of my repurposed arts and crafts fair, pop-up tent. I was tattooing for the Vietnam vets motorcycle club run in a Round Table Pizza parking lot in Susanville, California, a few miles away from the maximum-security prison. It was the year 2000 and luckily “Y2K” didn’t take us all out. Blissfully ignorant of my actual situation, I was overconfidently learning to tattoo by practicing on people I should have been way more nervous about. I owned one tattoo machine. I would outline, switch the liner bar for a shader and finish it up. His voice was raspy and loud, “You wanna see a tattoo?” I set my things down and stepped closer as he dropped his jeans to his ankles. The thick chain wallet poked through the worn-out hole in his back pocket, hitting the sidewalk with a thud. He crossed his lean, leathery arms and pulled his seasoned t-shirt over his head, revealing the coolest tattoo I had ever seen. A red dragon wound up from his calf, around his thigh, across his entire back, and over his shoulder onto his chest and arm. No background, just a scaly red monster of a tattoo. I would have no idea if it was actually good. It was over twenty years ago, and I had no idea what I was doing. I was the first licensed and registered tattooer in the history of my county. My town didn’t have a street light or a fast-food chain.

When I started tattooing in 1999, there were five magazines you could buy in stores. Ten years later, there were twice that many. As the publication industry died, for the most part, the final surge had so many mediocre tattoo mags out that it turned my stomach. The constant barrage of "hot chicks" with average tattoos on the covers and celebrity features left me not buying any for the last ten years.

In 2018 I was interviewed in India for a magazine called Nepal Inked. It was late the last night of the Heartwork Tattoo Festival in New Deli. Jet Lagged and tired from the five days of tattooing there; I was surprised by the interviewer's questions. Thoughtful, soulful, deep, intentional questions made me think and feel things about my tattooing that I had never thought or felt, or at the least, I had never shared. I have been interviewed for dozens of feature articles over the years in many countries. They were all pretty much the same. "How did you get into tattooing? Who are your biggest influences? How would you describe your style? "Even in the thick fog of my headspace, this guy from Nepal asking me questions about tattooing made me realize there is depth out there. There do exist people with broader spectrums than just trying to get laid. Of course, tattoos are sexy. So vain, so temporal, so physical. But a much fuller spectrum of experience draws us in before we even realize it is Alice's Wonderland, the Yellow Submarine, Pan's Labyrinth, and the Matrix when we take that step to the place of decision.

I have heard and read that the most spiritual thing you can do is deny your physical desires, the wants, and cravings of your body, hunger, touch, sex, and ownership of things… I have also heard that being present and fully aware of your physical body is the most spiritual thing you can do. Can getting tattooed be a spiritual experience? Can getting tattooed be a spiritual practice?

I have always loved words and their definitions. My mom would constantly tell me to mean what I said and say what I meant as a kid. She would tell me to use the right word to express myself, so I love looking at words and their definitions. The dictionary definition of the word decision is; to sever or cut off. To decide is to sever or cut off all other options. Once you decide something, there’s no going back. Once those needles hit your skin, it is at that point that you cannot return. Yeah, you can change it, get laser removal, cover it, blast over, or whatever else, but you can never again physically be the person you were before that decision. You can never again not have been tattooed.

Our world is increasingly becoming more fabricated, illusional, digital, virtual, and quasi… Quasi is one of my favorite words. Probably because of the definition, which is: “Seemingly, apparently, but not really”… synonyms: supposed, seeming, apparent, alleged, reported, ostensible, purported, nominal, so-called, would-be, pseudo-bogus, sham, phony, imitation, artificial, mock, ersatz, fake, forged, feigned, pretended, simulated, false, spurious, counterfeit, fraudulent, deceptive. Doesn’t that sound like the internet to you? Like social media? So many people create false realities, filtering their lives to look quasi-successful. As a result, their faces look quasi-attractive, younger, slimmer, brighter, less wrinkled, with bigger lips, brighter teeth, prettier eyes, bigger boobs and butts, and the rest…the virtual reality of the digital world.

I read last year that for the first time since the 70s, vinyl records were the number one sold medium for music. People want reality. We want to touch, hold, smell, taste, and feel something real. As we pulse through our days, stroking our screens, scrolling through the endless little windows into other people’s quasi-perfect lives, comparing ourselves to them, our experiences to theirs, the size of our parts to the size of their parts. It should inspire… but it rarely does. That comparison shrinks us like a scared turtle wanting to disappear into its shell.