Origin Piece IV — Spirit of the 9 Tails

Every new technique begins with experimentation.

The previous chapter, The First Marks, documented the earliest attempts to understand how leather responds to a tattoo machine. Those experiments were never intended to become finished works. They existed to answer one question:

Can leather become a permanent medium for tattooing?

Spirit of the 9 Tails is the answer.

This is the first Origin Piece in which tattooing on leather becomes the artwork itself.

Executed directly onto a pair of classic leather Nike Air Force 1 sneakers using a professional tattoo machine, the work represents a new direction within the Baldr practice. Every line is permanently embedded into the leather, replacing paint with tattoo as the primary medium.

Inspired by Japanese mythology and traditional tattoo composition, the artwork depicts a white guardian spirit surrounded by flowing peonies and organic linework. The title refers to the mythical Nine-Tailed Spirit—a symbol of transformation, intuition and hidden strength.

The composition is not intended as a literal illustration of folklore. Instead, it explores how mythological symbolism can be translated into contemporary street culture, allowing a globally recognised sneaker silhouette to become the foundation for an original work of art.

Tattooing leather requires a different mindset than tattooing skin. Every surface behaves differently. Every decision is permanent. The process demands patience, control and an understanding of both materials.

That challenge is precisely what makes this Origin Piece significant.

It is more than a finished artwork.

It marks the beginning of tattooing on leather as an independent medium within Baldr.

As with every Origin Piece, the original exists only once.

One artwork.

One owner.

One beginning.