Born and raised in Great Britain, Jim started tattooing in the late 70's. At the time there was very little information available about it and he used whatever machines he could get (usually crude imported copies of american style machines).

Since those usually were rather unreliable Jim set out to make his own machines in the mid 80's. Having been trained as a journeyman machinist in his youth gave him a solid foundation to start with. Over the years he experimented with many styles and designs of machines, keeping some and discarding others.

Eventually he ended up with several models of Irons that he still makes today.

After 27 years of tattoing all over Europe and Australia Jim Martini retired in 2004 and concentrates on building his tattoo machines in his workshop in Milan, Italy.