Object details
| Designer / Studio | Ferdinand Kohle; team: Shaoyu Wang, Hemal Dias |
| Brand | Cipherx Technologies, United Kingdom |
| Award | EPDA 2026 Top Design, Personal / Other Personal Products |
| Explore the design | cipherx.tech |
A tattoo usually means a needle, a machine and a session of discomfort. For many people, that process is the reason they never get one.
Microdot Tattoos, developed by Ferdinand Kohle with Shaoyu Wang and Hemal Dias at Cipherx Technologies, propose a different method. They received a Top Design distinction for personal products at the 2026 European Product Design Award.
The system uses microscopic structures made from pigment, called Microdots. They are applied to the skin in a single motion and deposit tattoo pigment below the surface.
Each Microdot acts like a pixel. Together they form the overall image, much as a screen builds a picture from points of light.
Cipherx says the approach reduces pain, needle anxiety and the complexity of application. It is aimed at small permanent tattoos and at people put off by conventional tattooing, including those with sensitive skin.
Microdot Tattoos rethink an old craft from the starting point of access, opening it to people who had ruled it out.
View Microdot Tattoos on the European Product Design Award winner’s page →
Image: Cipherx Technologies.
