Half Dutch half Caribbean, Michel Thieme (a.k.a. Captain Caveman) completed high school and found the offerings of continuing education to be unappealing. With ants in his pants, he did all kinds of jobs earning enough to allow him to travel far and wide. Seeing high quality tattoos peaked his interest and, before too long, he got his first tattoo. A telling sign of things to come, it was a design from Borneo on his wrist. He was always being asked to draw tattoo designs for friends. The local shops were traditional old school specialists without a clue to the newly popular tribal designs. Michel didn't know much more, but drew original tribal flash inspired by his world travels that left them hungry for more. He kept busy painting everything from interiors for decorators to body painting Go-Go girls.

Getting tattooed by Hanky Panky (a.k.a. Henk Schiffmacher) and the crew at Amsterdam's legendary red light district tattoo shop and museum became a regular occurrence. His eagerness to learn to tattoo was met head on when, in 1994, Henk offered Michel (then 23) the opportunity of a lifetime: an apprenticeship which would begin with sweeping the floors for a year or so. Two weeks later, he moved to Amsterdam and took the plunge into the world of tattooing. He jumped into the deep end head first apprenticing under the expert tutelage of none other than Henk Schiffmaker himself (a.k.a. Hanky Panky). Their mutual interest in tribal tattoos and cultural background had them collecting books and visiting museums. These adventures planted the seeds for Captain Caveman's current vocation as a dealer of tribal art and antiquities. Henke's shop was a favorite meeting place for tattooists from around the globe.

The personal introduction to the world's top tattooists created endless travel opportunities. In addition to tribal designs and cultures, his scope of tattooing was broadened to include many other styles. Captain Caveman's first hand exposure to traditional Americana and Asian motifs and techniques was a priceless learning experience. Though tribal tattoo designs remained his first love and has led him to travel several times to the interior of Borneo studying the styles at the source. Together with his wife Lotus, they ventured into Polynesia which lead to him getting a traditional Samoan tattoo called Pe'a.

Captain Caveman has collected many tattoos and amassed an incredible array of tribal art and artifacts. From Marquesan war clubs and stone idols to shrunken heads and Dayak shields from Borneo. In 2000, his eagerness and enthusiasm for these tribal cultures led him to open a gallery specializing in Oceanic and Indonesian Art. He has since retired from tattooing (how many times did Frank Sinatra retire?) and his focus is on the gallery. An odyssey spanning a decade has come full circle. His business is simply called Michel Thieme.