PROFESSIONAL TATTOO EQUIPMENT

Ratio Needles

With many configurations and varieties, Ratio Needles can give you the freedom and precision you need to create your masterpiece. Traditional needles, classic cartridges and our popular ergonomic Soft Grip Tip Cartridges of high quality materials are all part of the Ratio Needle arsenal.

Ratio Protective

The importance of keeping a hygienic and safe workspace relies on great products to make the work easy to manage. Disposable covers for all aspects are a part of the Ratio Protective products. To keep your customer and their artwork safe we have included one of the best aftercare products on the market in this section. The Ratio Skin Protection, a breathable and protective film that feels like an extra layer of skin while your tattoo heals.

Ratio Equipment

Our latest section of products that includes the Ratio Click Cartridge Grip that will fit most cartridge setups, machine care products and Ratio merch. Who doesn’t want to look dashing in a Ratio T-shirt?

ABOUT

Ratio - Professional Tattoo Equipment

Ratio started out as a producer of tattoo needles. High quality needles of many configurations that come in traditional needles, classic cartridge needles and the first ever Soft Grip Tip Cartridges that were developed to make a more ergonomic process while working on your masterpieces.

Further there was a will to create smart products to make tattooing more convenient, safe and ergonomic. The Ratio Protective Series was developed and provides a range of disposable protective covers that are made to be easy to use as well as protecting your equipment from contamination while working.

Ratio has expanded to not only provide products from their supplier in Sweden, but also Switzerland, Great Britain and the US.

RATIO PRO TEAM

Jacob Pedersen

Crooked Moon Tattoo • Helsingborg • Sweden

I started tattooing 2005 when I was about 28 years old. I was working in the restaurant business and felt like doing something else.

2006 I got an apprenticeship  at Evil Twins in Helsingborg. My mentor was Max Bodlund and I opened my first studio Crooked Moon Tattoo together with my brother Jonas 1st December 2011.

My preferred style is black & grey realism with abstract elements but I also love putting som colour in the graphical and abstract parts.

I’ve been using Ratio needles since 2019. I find them professionally produced and they hold great quality. They’re also easy and effective to work with. I really like the Round Shaders and Soft Edge Mags in 0,35mm, especially for packing black areas.

Nichlas Wencel

Vilja av Stål • Halmstad • Sweden

I started using Ratio Cartridges back in 2016, and before then I I didn’t really have a preference of needles. I basically just used what was available. When I tried their Soft Edge Magnums I immediately felt the difference in softness compared to all the other needles I had used before. This really suited my style of tattooing.

The soft membrane in the cartridges really allows me to get those smooth transitions that you need to get a realistic depth in your tattoos. The quality of the needles is unquestionable, and with the Soft Grip Tip the level of comfort while tattooing long sessions is no longer a problem.

Since I started using Ratio needles I haven’t found any other needles that suit me on any level. Ratio needles are simply the best!

Julia Brunander

Tattoo Söder • Ulricehamn • Sweden

My interest for tattooing started when I was about 15 years old. I took my first step in the business 2014 when I started as an apprentice at Tattoo Söder in Ulricehamn, Sweden. Ever since, it’s been my greatest passion. During my years as a tattoo artist I’ve gotten most recognition for my portraits in back & grey realism, which also is what I love doing most.

I find Ratio’s cartridge needles easy to work with and I’ve been using them since 2018. They feel steady and have great precision. Above all I use their 3-liners in all realistic tattoos I do, and it’s unbeatable when it comes to marking up the stencil and polishing the details of my artworks. Those combined with the 7 and 11 Soft Edge Magnums are needles I simply can’t do without.

Marcus Körling

Let's Live Galleries • Skövde • Sweden

I got my first tattoo when I was about 16 years old, and that was what sparked my interest for tattooing. I was sick and tired of school and started to spend all my free time in that studio. I asked questions researched how the hell to become a tattoo artist and when I turned 18 I guess the guy who had the shop got tired of it and took me in as an apprentice. It’s already been 20 years since!

I opened up my first own studio around 2010 and three years later I moved to a bigger place and got myself two colleagues. The summer of 2019 they moved on and I got my own private studio where I work now.

I really prefer to work with all styles since I find it really tedious with monotonous work, but if I had to choose I’d probably go for Japanese and colour realism.

I have used Ratio’s needles since 2019. I was late to start using cartridges and tried loads of different brands but Ratio’s Soft Grips are unbeatable! The precision and the thin, fine material in the tips! The soldering and the entire setup suits me like a cold pilsner on a hot summer day. I do line work with the textured 3, 7 and 9-liners and shadows and colour packing with 0,30mm 13 and 21 Soft Edge Mags. I don’t need anything else!

Martin Sjöberg

Art Station • Ulricehamn • Sweden

I’ve been working as a tattoo artist since I was around 19 years old. I started out working at a studio called Vectorious Art, located in Falköping in Sweden. Now I have my own studio Art Station in Ulricehamn where I grew up.

My work is mainly realism in both black & grey and colour and I like making big artworks, preferably entire body parts where I get to work with the body’s shapes and anatomy.

I use Ratio’s products because I find them precise and they have an even quality. A lot of products have teething troubles, but with Ratio’s products that has never been a problem for me. Their needles have a very good ink flow and good precision and the products are what they claim to be.

Johan Finné

Evil Twins • Helsingborg • Sweden

My interest for tattooing has been there since I was a child, but it peaked when I started to study art in high school. When I had gone 2 years in high school I quit and started my apprenticeship before I finished high school and the apprenticeship at the same time.

I’ve never had my own studio, since I’ve always worked with others. I’ve had the title of co-owner, but it was never in my primary focus.

Art styles are there to be mixed for me and I never really stuck to one. There are of course certain styles I get asked to do more often than others, but doing the same style day after day gets tedious to me.

I started using Ratios needles as soon as they came out. They have an even quality and a nice ink flow that easily goes in to the skin. My absolute favorite is the 23 curved mag. It works for all sizes of tattoos and I like to work fast and in large scale. You can use it to make loads of different textures depending on angle, it’s outstanding for soft shading and building a foundation to use other, smaller groupings on after.

Johanna Thor

Bluebird Tattoo • Västerås • Sweden

My passion for tattooing started almost already as a child when I often amused myself with drawing on my brothers arms with ink. I studied natural and technical sciences but think I always knew that this wasn’t the path of my life, so 2001 after I graduated Noby who then owned Tattoo Zone in Stockholm took me in. I am grateful for that extremely developing time.

I opened Bluebird in Västerås back in 2004 and this is where I still am even though we’ve moved to another location in town, just by the canal in the city center.

I find it super important to gain inspiration from many parts of the world, so I have traveled to many of our continents and countries to compete at conventions and work at guest spots.

My style is a variety of many things, but I love thick black patterns and bright/saturated colors. I have quite recently started using Ratio cartridges thanks to trying some samples and I found them amazing! They feel and are quite luxurious and precise and my experience is that there’s less play in the needle. I also love the soft grip tip! I use liners from 3 up to 14 since I like to use different weights in my line work to create a contrast and the bigger mags have always been my go to needles. Having tried a lot of Ratios needles I feel that I want to try all their configurations.

Simon Lindahl

Tattoo Inkarnation (Swamon) • Malmö • Sweden

I grew up in the punk and skateboarding community, where almost everyone were older than me and heavily tattooed, so my attraction to tattoos began in the early teens. As soon as I turned 18 I started covering myself in tattoos, all made in the same studio. After maybe a year I managed to convince Tommy Lompad, who owned the studio, to take me in as an apprentice. I’m still there, 13 years later, working with him.

I almost exclusively do blackwork/geometrical tattoos with big black areas and detailed patterns. I’m very grateful to my customers who give me a lot of freedom in my designs.

It isn’t too long since I came a cross Ratios needles, but I instantly took a liking to them. The thing I like most about them is that I can rely on the quality being very consistent. The variety of configurations is also enough for me to not have to buy from loads of different manufacturers. I use everything from super tight 3-liners to 49 flat mags. I love mixing really thick lines with really thin lines to create a sense of depth in my tattoos. And the contrast of big fields of black meeting patterns made with thin liners speaks to me and affects my choice of needles. So the importance of the consistent quality of the needles makes Ratio a great choice for me.

Ida Modliba

Morbid Impalement • Umeå • Sweden

Art and creation has been in my blood since childhood and my dream was to be an artist. When I started to get closer to adulthood I realized that I had to be able to make a living out of it somehow. This brought me to the artform of tattoos and tattooing quickly became the spark that lit the fire of my passion.

I worked on a portfolio for a couple of years before I got the courage to look for an apprenticeship. In 2015 I started my in Karlshamn and when the apprenticeship was over I moved on to Jönköping before I went further north to Umeå, where I am today. 

Black and gray realism is my nisch now and I use a lot of solid black for my motives. I prefer dark themes and art.

Ratios needles are what I started with and still use to this day, although my first lines ever were made with their traditional needles. Today I almost only use their Soft Grip cartridges and I could almost be satisfied with only their 11 soft edge mags and 3 round liners in 0,35mm. The mags work just as well for packing solid black as soft shading.

I feel honored to be chosen as a member of Ratios Pro Team!

Chris Larsson

Luccilane Tattoo (Niceguy Chris) • Karlsborg • Sweden

The fascination for tattoos began early in my life and I wanted to become a tattoo artist already in middle school. I drew and sketched constantly. Sometime around high school I started with air brushing and pin striping and it wasn’t until I was around 25 years old that I held a tattoo machine for the first time.

I started to get tattoos a few years earlier made by Marcus Körling, who’s also a member of the Pro Team, and I studied everything he did. I nagged him all the time about becoming his apprentice. He told me “If I ever decide to get an apprentice, it will be you, but I never will”.

With those words and a growing impatience I started tattooing on my own. 2009 I started my own company that I named Niceguy Chris Tattoo.

First I was really in to only doing traditional style tattoos but it later turned into some kind of neo style and on to magnum black & gray and now I’ve landed in some kind of liner whip black & gray style neo realism, haha.

I was very faithful to my old coil machines but about 2 years ago I got myself a pen machine and started using cartridge needles. This made me swap over to Ratio because I didn’t like the other brands I had used for traditional needles in cartridge form. The foundation of my style revolves around .30 3-liner and Ratios 3-liners are just as precise, stiff and tight as I want to get a distinct whip texture. The over all quality spans over all the configurations and I daily use .35 7-9 liners for outlining and 7-11 soft edge mags for packing and smooth shading when I need it.

Ellen Westholm

thInk • Göteborg • Sweden

It was first in my late teens that my interest for tattooing began. I don’t think I knew a single person with tattoos growing up, but the drawing was a constant part of my life since my mother was an artist. Tattooing came as a result of this.

It all started a bit difficult with a few catastrophic homemade tattoos on myself and the bravest of friends, that resulted in an awakening. I had to become a tattoo artist, but I wouldn’t be able to at home not knowing what I was doing. Fast forward 10 years working at a few different studios, you’ll find me in my own studio that I own together with my two amazing colleagues Cassandra Fazzone and Ida Berneryd. We opened thInk (pun intended) in 2018 and now we have two more fantastic colleagues; Anna Rosvall and Sanna Carlbom.

My style has always been dark, feminine and gothic realism mostly in black and gray. Inspired by the many amazing artists I’ve had the privilege of working with, but also the old artists from the renaissance and baroque.

To transfer ideas to skin the best tools are needed. It has taken me a while to find the needles I like best but since about three years back I have been working with needles from Ratio. They are easy to work with and I appreciate not having to think about the practicalities while tattooing.

I mainly use liner 3,5 and 7, straight 7 mags and 13 mag soft edge. I usually build up my tattoos with the mags and use the liners for sharp areas and details.

Daniel Norin

Adventureland Tattoo • Höganäs • Sweden

When I was 11 years old I saw Doc Forrest on TV and my mother said that this was what I should do when I became old enough. In our family we all used to draw pictures from the Swedish children’s comic Bamse every night before bedtime.

I got my first apprenticeship in 2002 in a studio in Stockholm that unfortunately was ended a year later due to the owner moving away from town. A while later, in 2006, I started working at the studio Swahili Bob. In 2014 I moved to Helsingborg to work at Crooked Moon Tattoo for 4 years until it was time to start my own studio in Höganäs 2018.

I prefer traditional style when I tattoo, but I do most styles except portraits. I haven’t been using Ratio’s needles for all that long, but when I tried them I really took to them. I really like them because they feel even in the quality and they are also very durable. I mostly use 14 round shaders, 7 liners and 11 mags for my work.

Jimmy Johnsson

Big Time Tattoo • Västerås • Sweden

Growing up, I was never exposed to tattoos. My parents didn’t have any, nor did the people in my circle of friends or other family. Hence when I got to the age of 18 I got my first one, planned it to be as close to my 18th birthday as possible. Why? Don’t really remember. A sense of wanting to break out of the fold or something, who knows. But after getting it done (a scorpion riding a tribal on my forearm) the match was lit and the interest sparked.

I started tinkering with machines and figuredI needed a change of life in my early twenties. Tattoos became an obsession at that moment. 2008 I opened my first shop and have been a studio owner ever since.

I prefer to create tattoos with a realistic foundation, adding elements of an abstract nature mixed with the odd stylistic geometrical piece. Black n grey, grey opaque, color, doesn’t really matter. As long as the project itself sparks an interest I enjoy creating with all of them.

I tried Ratio for the first time when the brand launched through a big ass sample box with every available configuration in it that was available at the moment. My main go to configs are 1205RL, 1205RS, 1213SEM, 1223SEM and my personal favorite, Fat Mag 1245SEM*LT.

Why Ratio one might ask? Pretty simple answer, consistency. As a tattooer dealing with intricate pieces of work every day, you really want to go with the equipment that behaves and delivers what you expect it to. You don’t want to adjust your workflow and adapt to various quality of needles that won’t deliver what you expect.When you work seamlessly without even thinking about how the needle behaves, that’s the consistency I’m talking about. Ratio deliveres!

Lisa Latorre

Next Art Studio • Västerås • Sweden

I was honestly not particularly interested in tattooing until I tried it and fell in love with that type of art. I like the pursuance, but also the value of the connection you get with your clients. The trust and bond created in the process. Tattooing someone is in my belief an incredible position of power that must be exercised with respect for the person under the needle.

Painting and art has always been present in my life. I was artistic already as a young child and I always had a great need to express myself through internal abstract images. I also paint and have an artistic education in my background. My artistic “language” is an important tool for me to be able to live everyday life, communicate, heal and integrate the severe traumas I have gone through in my life. I am incredibly grateful that I get to practice this profession every day.

I started my apprenticeship 13 years ago and only 2 years after I started tattooing I opened Next Art Studio. Young and naive but with with a drive for development, which is still present to this day, 13 years later. Right from the start I tattooed abstract/realism in color. For me the only natural thing. Interpretations from my own art. Many of my motifs are oil paintings from the peginning.

I have used Ratio needles for periods during my career, but the last two years I have completely switched over to Ratio. I like Ratio mainly because it’s the only needles I’ve used where I don’t have to adapt to the needle. Consistency. I can work freely. I work alot with Soft Edge Mags in different sizes. Mostly 0.30mm 7, 9 13 and 21 for packing color. For smaller areas and details I work with Round Shader 5’s and 9’s in 0.35mm.

Stina Nyman

Eyescream Tattoo • Ystad • Sweden

I was introduced to the tattoo business around 2002 when I was asked if I wanted to be an apprentice due to my constant drawing everywhere. Including on myself. I have to admit that I hadn’t built up an interest for tattooing until the opportunity for an apprenticeship presented itself. I just hadn’t dared to dream it, but as soon as I started, so did the passion for art on skin and the endless possibilities of it.

2004 I opened my own studio in Ystad. Scared to death and with hardly any experience, but determined to succeed. Ystad was apparently very ready for a tattoo studio and since then business has boomed!

When I first started tattooing there weren’t a lot of needles to choose from, but through out the years more and more entered the market. Some good, some bad. After much testing Ratio’s needles end up at the top of my list. I have been using them the latest 5-6 years or so.

I like Ratio’s needles due to the many configurations they offer for anything you might need and the rubber grip of the Soft Grip Cartridges are comfortable and makes changing needles easier. They are quiet and offers great value. I mainly use 9 Round Shaders, 5, 7 and 9 Round Liners and 15 Soft Edge Magnums.

DEALERS

Strandgatan 30

523 31, Ulricehamn

Sweden

Rue Pré-du-Marché 34

1004, Lausanne

Switzerland

2 Hotspur Street

Liverpool, L20 8BR

United Kingdom

228 Columbus Ave

San Francisco, CA 94133

USA

Get in touch!