Long ago, when the plumage of all birds was dull and sober, a pheasant and a crow decided to tattoo each other. The crow began, and made a beautiful job of it. The pheasant, a stupid bird, failed miserably. To disguise his bungling, he threw black ink over the crow and quickly flew away. This is why to this day the pheasant has beautiful markings and the crow is black as coal.

The legend above comes from the Kayan, a tribe on Borneo, or Kalimantan as it is now known. Their tattooing style has become famous worldwide because of the popularity of New Tribalism. The elegant geometric patterns of the Kayan, and later the Iban, inspired the abstract monochrome shapes that characterise New Tribalism.