AD at home with tattoo artist Melina Wendlandt

Music, art, fashion: How do the creatives who shape Germany's pop and cultural scene live? AD, in the series "New Natives," they give an insight into the most private part of their lives that has never been shown publicly before - their homes. Episode 2: Tattoo artist Melina Wendlandt aka Xoxo Tattoo.

Melina Wendlandt is known as "Xoxo Tattoo" on Instagram. The tattoo artist, who recently turned 30, runs her own studios in Hamburg, Berlin and Los Angeles together with her boyfriend Philipp under the name "Vaders Dye". Yevgeny Roppel

Basically, Melina Wendlandt's success story begins with a lion. With filigree lines and small dots, she draws graceful animals that her customers then wear under their skin for the rest of their lives. The lion is the most popular motif of the tattoo artist, who is one of the most successful in Germany (if not worldwide). Even before her 30th birthday, she opened her own studios in Hamburg, Berlin and Los Angeles. When Melina Wendlandt opens her schedule for new bookings under the stage name "Xoxo Tattoo", she gets almost 1000 requests in half an hour.

In the video: At home with Melina Wendlandt

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And now there are the lions again. As stucco, they look down on Melina from the ceiling of her Hamburg apartment in Harvestehude. "They seem a bit grim," notes the communication design graduate. "But I like the fact that the lion motif is also found here in our apartment - that was a pure coincidence."

As "Xoxo Tattoo" one knows Melina Wendlandt on Instagram. The tattoo artist, who recently turned 30, runs her own studios in Hamburg, Berlin and Los Angeles with her boyfriend Philipp under the name "Vaders.Dye."

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Melina and her boyfriend Philipp commute between Hamburg, Berlin and Los Angeles throughout the year. In Berlin they live in a shared room, in L.A. they don't have a permanent place yet. They moved into the Hamburg apartment in August 2019, and it's already the third one they've lived in together. Only now it is no longer a one-bedroom apartment, but a 110-square-meter four-bedroom apartment with guest bathroom and garden, not far from the Außenalster. The rented apartment sits nobly on a side street, it is located in one of those old Hamburg city villas that already reveal from the outside how beautiful it is inside.

"At the risk of being a cliché: I've just always wanted to live in an apartment with high ceilings, stucco and double doors."

Here, the architecture of the old building provides the framework for the interior: Meter-high ceilings, parquet flooring, an old fireplace and elaborate stucco on the ceilings give the whole apartment the grace of old Hamburg elegance; always restrained, but sophisticated.

The heart of the apartment is the living room, which opens to the street like a winter garden with a large window front. Via white-painted double doors, the spacious kitchen can be connected with the adjacent dining room and the living room. From the living room you can reach the study; a long hallway leads to the bedroom with a view of the garden.

Melina Wendlandt used to draw her tattoos on paper, now she does it on her iPad.

Around the dining room table are Philippe Starck's "Ghost Chairs" for Kartell. The tattoo artist found the table legs on eBay classifieds, the tabletop is from the stonemason.

The couple bought the living room table at the "Laundry" in Hamburg, the sofas are from Westwing.

The marble block also comes from there. The wall paneling is original stock.

All the rooms are pared down and decorated in well-tempered shades of beige and old white, and much of the furniture is black. Melina likes monochromatic color palettes and tone-on-tone harmony. "My boyfriend said at the beginning that we live like in an Instagram apartment. I think for him it could be even cozier." For Melina, it's not a contradiction. "I like clean lines, symmetry and order, which is also reflected in my tattoos. Everything has to be delicate, clean and perfect there. Maybe I also implement that in my apartment - but I still want people to feel comfortable here, no one should think that you can't sit down."

That's why when Melina and her boyfriend have a lot of guests, she sometimes sits on the large table that dominates the living room. It is one of her favorite pieces of furniture, the couple found it in the Hamburg furniture store "Laundry", it is a unique piece made from the parquet floor of a London nightclub. "I must admit that I just do a lot of things in the apartment without asking my boyfriend, at the same time, as here with the table, I should rely on him much more often."

Currently, both are traveling a lot, also because their tattoo studio "Vaders.Dye" in Los Angeles is not yet as established as in Hamburg and Berlin. "Just now I was three months in L.A. That is quite a rest in the winter. But in the end, I'm drawn back here. Hamburg is our home, after all."

On the platform with marble floor, Melina Wendlandt has created a winter garden for herself. The armchair is from Ikea, the marble blocks from Westwing.

From the living room you look into the dining room, behind it is the kitchen. Because Melina likes to play with light, she has installed smart bulbs in all the ceiling lights, whose colors can be controlled via an app.

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