202 1st St NE
Little Falls MN 56345
Josh Stumpf first got involved in the world of tattooing at the age of nine when he began drawing stencils for Frank Hamilton at Fancy Colors Tattoo in Motley, MN. There he served as a sort of novelty, a child designing tattoos. He tattooed briefly in his teens, before getting married and stepping away from the scene and getting a job at Crestliner Boats, where he worked until its closing.
Josh resumed tattooing in the 1990s, describing the process like riding a bike—he simply fell back into it. He was inspired by a friend serving in the Gulf War who wanted tattoos to remember his family by while he was deployed.
He then remodeled his home and made part of it into a professional studio because he “didn’t want to be the guy tattooing somebody off the living room table.” This arrangement lasted until 2005, when a growing family and frustrations of having customers at their house at all hours of the day (and night) pushed Josh to open his own shop separate from his home.
Skyline Tattoo’s first location was in the old Hub Café building on Broadway, opening officially on April 1, 2007. A few years later, they moved into their location on First Street, initially sharing the space with Peoples Small Loan Company. They have been there ever since.
Skyline currently has five artists. Josh, Jason Brigmon, and Jessica Stafki have worked at the shop since its beginning in 2007. Latoja Pijula, a cosmetic tattoo artist, recently joined them. Each artist subcontracts their rooms within the shop, allowing them to customize a space just as unique as their tattooing styles. The laid-back atmosphere inside the shop creates a welcoming environment, one that encourages creativity from both artist and client alike.
From flowers and “Victorian Neo-Traditionalism”—a style that fuses the aesthetics of the 1800s with early traditional tattoo motifs—to skulls and portraits, everyone brings something different to the Skyline table.
See more photos from our visit to Skyline below!
