A start-up named CipherX has designed a machine it says delivers the “world’s first painless tattoo.” The patch remains on the skin for around 10 to 15 minutes, after which it simply peels off, leaving the tattoo behind. Kohle, who runs the company alongside former surgeon Karl-Anton Harms, is quick to stress that the CipherX microdot tattoo isn’t intended to replace traditional methods. At the London launch, the pair also paid homage to the tools that came before – from ancient stick-and-poke methods through to the first electric tattoo machine. “They go into the skin and then immediately deposit, and the needle is essentially becoming the tattoo.”