After a decade travelling, Czech-born artist Michaela (Mishka) Madrova, was living in Wanaka with her partner when Covid-19 hit.
It proved to be the catalyst for the Restless Mouse Art owner to pursue her passion professionally.
“Tattooing was in my mind for a long time and I wanted to push it further, but you need to be in one place, which I wasn’t the past 10 years,” she said.
Ms Madrova said community support was the catalyst in taking action.
“Being here in this lovely community and all the friends I had made, it just made the dreams so easy. Ever since I started, it felt like I had chosen the right path and got supported from the beginning,” she said.
Before establishing her own tattoo business and studio, she had approached others around Wanaka.
“I really wanted to push my dream forward and I didn’t want to wait. I thought if I want to push my dream forward, and it’s the thing I should do, then I will definitely find the ways myself and that’s what happened,” she said.
As a result, Restless Mouse Art was formed.
She believed being self-employed had allowed her to grow and learn faster than working in a studio.
“I do believe that it shortened the time for me as well. If you do it just by yourself, you push your limits a bit more too. If I would be absorbing or watching [in another tattoo studio], it might take time for me to express myself and learn how to do it. So I feel like it actually was good for me and my business, and having to do it myself,” Ms Madrova said.
Ms Madrova recently became a New Zealand resident and plans to call New Zealand home for the time being.
