Rising Stars: Meet Daniel Snoeks of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Snoeks.

Hi Daniel, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the rougher suburbs outside Melbourne, Australia. I moved around from age 14, I was always skipping school to go into the city, visit the guys at the tattoo shops and the clothing stores that I liked. They all had motorcycles. Ever since I can remember I was obsessed with motorcycles, I always imagined myself going everywhere on them. After working every type of job you could think of I finally made myself as an artist, at 18, mainly tattooing. I’ve lived all around the world since then and ended up in LA, all my tattoo money always went to clothes and motorcycles, nothing has changed. I guess it all just started to fit together, I opened Le Papillon Garage exactly one year ago, it’s become a place that I can visualise all the things I love in life and share them with everyone. Steve McQueen was a huge inspiration for all of this, my Pops got the same butterfly tattoos as the ones he had in the movie Papillon, 1973. It makes me really happy when I see people wearing incredible vintage garments and feeling good about themselves. Every piece in my store has a special history, so does each of the motorcycles I get to build and ride. It’s all about having fun.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s hard to make money out of thin air, it’s difficult not having consistency or knowing when the next pay check is coming in. A lot of people see what you build and what you have but they don’t see you sleeping in $4 bath houses in Korea while scrapping to get the next customer for a tattoo to get you through the next week. I was riding around on a 90cc Honda that I would have to fix up myself in the freezing winter because I couldn’t even afford to take the subway most of the time haha. It’s lonely and it sometimes feels like you’re working so hard with no guarantee at all that you will even get anywhere in life. My store got broken into twice since I opened it, my best friend became a Heroine addict and I’ve had to start from scratch more times than I can count. So yes there’s been quite a few struggles, but I guess it’s all still better than working for someone else or being plugged into the system. I guess my job became drawing on people and riding motorcycles, I can’t complain at all haha.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I think that my brain never shuts off, I honestly feel like I’m going insane most of the time but it also brings me to all my wild ideas that sometimes workout. I am more known as a tattoo artist, it’s still my full time job, ‘Le Papillon’ which means “ the butterfly “ has become my recognised label in the art industry. The original Papillon was a man named Henry charriere a French writer that wrote a book about his life in prison and how he escaped Devils island. I’ve always loved this metaphor, needing to break out and be free, this is what seems to drives me and my work

Who else deserves credit in your story?
There are always mentor in my life, lots of older no name artists that I’ve met around the world that have taken me in for a small while before I leave to find the next place or before my visa would run out. My tattoo mentor GB Kim i met when I was 19 in Korea, still to this day is one of my biggest inspirations and guides in life. I would never have been able to create this life I’ve made for myself without the knowledge he gave me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lepapillon-garage.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lepapillon.garage?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==