A start-up named CipherX has designed a machine it says delivers the “world’s first painless tattoo.”

Unveiled at an event in London last week, the CipherX microdot tattoo system comprises a loading dock, a handheld applicator and a patch that carries the chosen design as a series of microneedles.

Using the applicator, the patch is pressed quickly onto the skin, where the microneedles begin to transfer the pigment and dissolve. “You can think of [the needles] as a sandcastle – it stands up until you pour water over it,” founder Ferdinand Kohle tells us.

The patch remains on the skin for around 10 to 15 minutes, after which it simply peels off, leaving the tattoo behind. At first, the lines are faint, but over a couple of days the pigment develops to reveal the final design. According to CipherX, aftercare is simple – no wrapping is needed, and the area just has to be kept clean for the first 24 hours (so no sauna sessions or gym workouts).

Kohle founded CipherX in December 2020, after working in both the design and pharmaceutical industries. Driven by his own blood and needle phobias, he began exploring microneedle technology – now more commonly used in facial treatments – and questioning how it could “fundamentally change” the tattooing experience.

“What started as a personal question evolved into a much larger exploration of how tattooing might be redesigned using modern engineering, manufacturing and human-centered design,” he says.

Nearly six years on, he’s bringing the project to market. Appointments can be made at the company’s CX Flagship Store in West London, and will also be offered through selected events, pop-ups and collaborations.

For now, customers choose from a curated collection of designs, ranging from a smiley face – the first the company ever developed – to a chair. “The chair was just a silly idea, but it proved to be one of the most popular ones,” Kohle says.

Kohle, who runs the company alongside former surgeon Karl-Anton Harms, is quick to stress that the CipherX microdot tattoo isn’t intended to replace traditional methods.

Going forward, he’d like to collaborate with tattoo artists on the designs, while keeping the device’s limitations in mind. “The sweet spot is these smaller iconographic tattoos,” he says. “A sleeve is definitely not what we’re going for.”

At the London launch, the pair also paid homage to the tools that came before – from ancient stick-and-poke methods through to the first electric tattoo machine. “We are really the next fundamentally novel step in that history of tools, because our needles are essentially made from the ink itself,” Kohle says. “They go into the skin and then immediately deposit, and the needle is essentially becoming the tattoo.”

Looking beyond its current cosmetic application, Kohle sees a medical future for CipherX – “maybe tattoos that can change color to tell you about your body, your temperature, UV exposure, things like that,” he adds.