As I write, I’m still buzzing with motivation after an Easter weekend spent at the Piercer Trade Show in Manchester.
it was so uplifting to speak with subscribers (and future subscribers!) and brand representatives in person, as well as to witness the positive energy that is always created when piercers hang out with piercers. needless to say, new connections were forged, passions ignited and fresh ideas learned by all.
The Sharp End was one of the event’s vendors, alongside Cognition training, industrial strength uK, stiletto Piercing supplies, apex Body Jewellery, inari, neometal, danila tarcinale, Blank displays and neilmed. meanwhile, the packed schedule of super-insightful classes covered such topics as neurodiversity, photography and genital piercing, among others, with speakers including Cale Belford, david angeles, matthew masterton, Elizabeth moore,
Josh hawkins and Jess sellars – plus open technique sessions with olly todd and Cristiano aielli. (turn to pages 44 and 46 to read special contributions by two of these individuals!)
It seems fitting that an event like this is held in the spring, as the light returns, life unfurls, and we all have that inherent desire to clear out the old and welcome in the new. it’s also a great reminder of how important it is to keep boosting knowledge and skills – a topic that Becky Crossan of the uK association of Professional Piercers discusses in her comment column this time (page 30). a huge and heartfelt thank you goes out to nathan hague for creating this fantastic platform for everyone to share in.
Wishing you all new growth and opportunity this season.
Do you know the meanings behind the symbols in your jewellery cabinet? Naomi Caplin provides some fascinating insights to help you guide your clients to the right piece
06 n ews and v I ews
Al l the latest industry news and updates from the piercing community
12 _ dates for your d I ary Do n’t miss these exciting industry events taking place in the UK and further afield over the coming months
24 r each I ng f or the stars
After sharing news of their big award win in the previous issue of the magazine, we catch up with Flux Piercing’s Princess Marnie and Serena Mitchell to find out what makes their studio tick
30 _ e very day’s a school day
Becky Crossan of the UK Association of Professional Piercers (UKAPP) explains what it means to be ‘forever learning’ – and why it’s important
32 _ g o I ng f or gold
Matt Persse of Bee Tattooed in Stockport tells the inspirational (and unashamedly honest!) story of his journey from complete rookie, to UKAPP member, to being an 80% gold studio
38 _ t he I ncred I ble tI l Body Piercing Archive Founder Paul King focuses on a fascinating figure from UK body modification history: Til of Cardiff (contains images of genital piercing)
43 tI me f or techn I que We welcome well-known UK piercer and educator Olly Todd as our professional expert this time, to share his advice on achieving the perfect inside-out nostril piercing technique
46 a re you ‘just’ a p I erce r? Being a piercer can be allencompassing, but getting to know who you are outside of your studio makes a huge difference to your quality of life and work, says Jess Sellars
50 e nd-n ote I nspo L eaf Charles of The Endless Knot in Hartlepool sends us off on a motivational high by telling us about their proudest achievement
Trusted by piercers and industry professionals around the world for its high-quality threadless titanium and 18ct gold jewellery, NeoMetal has announced that it is stepping up its commitment to customers in the European Union and the UK with neometaljewelry.eu .
Jewellery ordered from neometaljewelry.eu is now distributed out of The Netherlands, which allows for shorter
lead times and free shipping on all orders. With an easy-to-navigate webshop, one-click reordering process and local support with extensive piercing experience, the company says it’s constantly working to offer European studios best-in-class services and products.
“Accessibility has always been at the heart of our business. We passionately believe all piercers and studios should have access to
safe, responsibly manufactured jewellery,” says Charles Brooks, General Manager for NeoMetal. “The prohibitive cost of shipping US-made body jewellery to the EU has been a barrier in this pursuit. Our goal is to remove this barrier, making NeoMetal titanium body jewellery even more accessible to current and future wholesale partners in the EU and UK, regardless of the size and location of their studio.”
– I chose them because they provided my mum with excellent care and support during the four times she had cancer before she sadly passed away last year,” she explains.
The team at Ink Custom Tattoo & Piercing in Exeter has held a super successful fundraiser for Force Cancer Charity. Based locally to the studio, it’s a charity that supports people affected by cancer and it has a special place in the heart of piercer Megan Joyce.
“They are a really great team who do so much to help
“I wanted to do something to say thank you to them, but being aware of the cost of living crisis I didn’t want to raise money by asking people to sponsor me, so I figured that if we did a day of special Mother’s Day discounts, we could raise a good amount.
“Through my piercings and the studio owner’s tattoos that day, we raised £953, which we topped up to £1,000.”
Big congratulations to the team, from all of us!
Cognition Training has just launched the first-ever UK-specific blood-borne virus (BBV) biosafety training for piercers!
A comprehensive course based on Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and NHS guidance, with helpful videos and quizzes to test your knowledge along the way, it contains all the information you need to stay fully informed and to meet UKAPP and APP membership standards.
Head over to cognitionbae.com to find out more.
s triving to uphold high sta ndards of hygiene and safety, the UK Association of Professional Piercers (UKAPP) membership recently voted on updating the organisation’s minimum standards for members in 2024, and has announced the results as follows:
Use of sterile gloves OR another aseptic technique will become a minimum standard for UKAPP membership from 2024. This was voted for by 78% of the membership.
Naked from the elbow down when piercing will become a minimum standard for UKAPP membership from 2024. This means removing rings, watches and other jewellery worn below the elbow when piercing, and rolling up sleeves or wearing short-sleeved clothing. Any protected religious symbols such as wedding rings or karas will be exempt. This was voted for by 69% of the membership.
You can find out more about the uka PP a t ukapp.org.uk
A big thank you to everyone who took part this time! Keep an eye on our Instagram stories and posts for more polls to get involved with for the next issue of @thesharpend_magazine
We are stepping up our commitment to our European customers and are proud to announce NEOMETALJEWELRY.EU
1-WEEK LEAD TIMES | TITANIUM & 18K GOLD DESIGNS | APP VERIFIED
Fast Delivery
Free shipping from stock in our warehouse in the Netherlands. Arrives in your studio within just a few days. Best of all, no duties or taxes within the EU.
Excellent Service
Professional support by experienced industry veterans.
Made in USA
Produced according to industry leading quality standards out of solid implant-grade titanium and 18 karat gold with a lifetime warranty.
01. INTRoducE youRSElF!
I’m Stephen of Apex Hand Crafted Body Jewellery.
I’m one half of the outfit, the other half is my dad and business partner Bobby.
02. WhAT IS youR RolE ThERE?
Jewellery maker, jewellery design and customer service.
03. WhAT doES youR bRANd SPEcIAlISE IN?
Niobium and gold seam rings, BCRs and unique shapes geared towards daith, conch, helix and nose piercings. Our special flavour is body-safe black niobium.
04. WhERE doES youR RANgE SIT IN TERMS oF PRIcE PoINT? We like to think our price point varies from entry-level safe jewellery to luxury pieces, so we genuinely have something for everyone’s budget.
05. Who WIll youR jEWEllERy bRINg To ThE yARd?
The boys looking for milkshakes.
06. WhAT’S youR FAvouRITE PIEcE?
My personal favourite piece in our inventory is the Camulus Mini Ring, perfect for healed nostril piercings!
07. hoW Would you dEScRIbE youR APPRoAch To cuSToMER SERvIcE?
One-to-one and tailored to each individual I speak with.
h o W c AN PE o P l E g ET IN Touch WIT h yo u? Via email at apexpiercing antrim@outlook.com, Instagram @apex_piercing, or Facebook by joining our group, Apex Hand Crafted Body Jewellery.
Movers and shakers
Norwich-based Phebe Rose has made a move from Cold Iron Tattoo Company, where she began her apprenticeship two years ago, to Factotum Body Modification, working alongside Joe Wythe and Olly Todd.
Having fallen in love with the industry after attending UKAPP conference for the first time in 2021, Phebe has since been pushing herself to attend lots more educational events, as well as shadowing other piercers to hone her skills.
Telling us about her move to Factotum, she said: “I’m so grateful to have been given this opportunity and cannot wait to move forward, building my skill-set and learning new techniques, alongside such a wonderful, talented team.
I’m also glad that I’ll have the opportunity to work with younger clients and help them begin their piercing journeys in a safe and comfortable environment.”
@piercedbyphebe
@factotumbodymodification
As well as carrying important industry updates, these pages are the place for you, the piercing community, to shout about all of your achievements and developments. So, if for example your studio has held a charity fundraiser, celebrated an anniversary, carried out a refit or rebranding, won an award or hosted an event – please let us know! Likewise, we’d love to hear about any personal achievements, such as graduating apprentices.
There’s a blog on our website with top tips for how to submit a winning piece of content, but at the end of the day, it’s the key details that count!
Send your submissions to editor@the-sharp-end.co.uk or tag us in your announcement on Instagram @thesharpend_magazine or Facebook (The Sharp End Magazine).
Here are some of the unmissable industry events taking place in the UK and beyond over the coming months...
London seminar day 3 July London cognitionbae.com
p ier C er t rade s how 2.5
27 a ugus t ExCel London (at the Big London Tattoo Show)
@piercingtradeshow
Big London tatto o s how 26 -27 a ugus t ExCel London
4 5
u K app Conferen C e 24-2 6 s epte mber
Radisson Blu Edwardian, Manchester ukapp.org.uk
e merg en C y f irst a id at w or K ( efaw ) C ours e 27 s epte mber Manchester cognitionbae.com
biglondontattooshow.com
i nternationa L ins piration
fr . a . p. p. e 202 3 26-28 May
Bordeaux, France @fr.a.p.p.e_
app a nnua L Con feren C e and e xpo
11 -16 June
Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, Las Vegas, US safepiercing.org
B mx net
7- 10 September Berlin, Germany bmxnet.org
apa r itor no a LL e o rigi ni Vo L 6 21- 23 October Pescara, Italy @ritornoalleorigini.apa
Let’s fi LL thi s map up! If you know of a conference, expo or open-door event that should be on this page, or have one of your own to promote, send the details to editor@the-sharp-end.co.uk
a lso referred to as a ‘triple knot’ or ‘trinity knot’ , the triquetra symbol is made up of three interlaced arcs or point-ended oval shapes, sometimes with a circle placed over the top or around the edge.
t his interlacement means that the design is ‘gateless’ – ie a continuous design with no beginning or end; no opening or ‘gate’ in it. Such enclosed designs are always regarded as protective.
t he p ointed oval shape is among the most ancient to represent the female genitalia, and with three joined together in this way, the triquetra is seen by pagan s in particular as a symbol of the female life cycle – often referred to as the ‘female trinity’ or triple goddess archetype of the m aide n, the m othe r and the Crone. t he num ber three often comes up in myth, folklore, fairy tales and magic charms, too.
t he t riquetra is also used in Christianity to represent the Holy trini ty of g od t he fathe r, g od t he Son and g od t he Holy Spirit. you mig ht have noticed it being used as a symbolic and decorative device in architectural or stained glass window designs in churches, for instance.
Clients might choose a triquetra to represent their faith (be it pagan , Christian or other), their womanhood, or their progress through life and the understanding and selfknowledge they’ve gained along the way.
The triple moon design depicts the three visible phases of the moon, with a waxing crescent on the left, a full moon in the centre, and a waning crescent on the right.
t he m oon is often seen as representing the feminine, and so, particularly in pagan ism, its phases are seen to correspond with the three stages of the female life cycle, as mentioned previously. m any pagan s of all paths will wear or carry a triple moon symbol, to connect with lunar magic and moon power through the phases of the cycle, and to represent the waxing
enclosed designs [such as the triquetra] are always regarded as protective
moon crescent of the m aide n g odde ss, the full moon circle of the m othe r g odde ss, and the waning moon crescent of the g rand mother m oon or Crone of Wisdom.
As the m oon’s gravitational pull on the Earth creates the ebb and flow of the ocean’s tides, the surging and lessening of hormones in our bodies, the trigger for fertility cycles, our moods and emotions, our dreams, our inner feelings and unconscious mind – connecting with the magic of the m oon, in whatever way it resonates with your client, is the reason that many will choose to wear a triple moon design.
The six-pointed star or hexagram can be created in two ways, but perhaps the more familiar is the one that today is often called the Star of d avid t his design is formed of two separate triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down (see bvl A pi ece on page 17). Although it’s widely accepted as the emblem of j udai sm, this association is relatively recent, as it’s a design that has been used for millennia in many different contexts.
In m exic o, the hexagram appears at the ancient m aya city of u xmal in yucat án, where it’s believed to represent the Sun.
m eanw hile, in India it’s revered as representing the principles of male and female – of Shiva (upwardpointing triangle) and of Shakti (downward-pointing triangle) – whose perpetual divine union maintains life in the universe.
In j ewis h tradition, no religiously observant j ew i s to break the commandment that forbids voluntary body piercings or tattoos; however, many non-religious j ews t oday have chosen to have them, often incorporating j ewis h symbols or Hebrew lettering as a way of acknowledging heritage and culture, and even honouring the memory of others, especially connected with the Holocaust.
connecting with the magic of the m oon. .. is the reason that many will choose to wear a triple moon design
t his could be the case for some of your clients, whilst others may choose to wear the six-pointed star for its associations of magical protection, balance, order in the universe and sexuality.
w heth er single, double, encircling, or twisted together, the serpent can be seen as a symbol of the entire universe and all that exists; of truth and wisdom; of immortality and endless rebirth and renewal; of life cycles; and of protection – once again working with the concept of the unbroken ‘gateless’ line, where the serpent either surrounds another symbol or is depicted with its tail in its mouth to make a complete circle (known as the ouroboros).
t he s erpent is one of the oldest symbols of female power, with both women and serpents seen to embody the power of life – women through childbirth and serpents through the shedding
of their skin, thus renewing themselves. m eanw hile, in the biblical g arde n of Eden, the serpent was the bringer of wisdom – whether for better or worse depending on your view!
m any cultures have a tree of l ife as a key symbol (I might write about trees, plants, flowers and fungi in future issues of this magazine!) – and these often have a serpent coiled around the base, living in the branches, or residing in the roots. t hey might be guarding the tree, or represent an ‘underworld serpent’, appearing as the ouroboros to form a circle of endless continuity of life.
your clients might choose to wear a serpent symbol to honour any of these thoughts and ideas from across the world, going back to the earliest images created by human hands.
The symbol of the eye is one that human beings have reacted to strongly for centuries upon centuries. t hese days you often hear the symbol referred to as an ‘evil eye’, but from ancient times it was actually used as a protection against evil!
t he s ymbol can be interpreted as the Eye of the g odde ss, and seen as a watchful, protective, guarding eye – all-seeing –which perhaps comes from the eye-to-eye gaze of a newborn baby to its mother, forming a bond that can ensure the infant’s survival. t here’s the Eye of p rovi dence, originally a Christian
symbol for g od’s omniscience and often found in freem asonry. Whilst in Ancient Egypt we find the Eye of Horus, a symbol used in amulets for protection, health and restoration. It represents the eye that the god Horus lost and then had magically restored, according to myth. Clients might wear this symbol to represent their own intuition, knowledge or insight; to feel that they are being watched over by a goddess or god relevant to their beliefs; or to use it more generally as a symbol of protection or good luck.
b ees were highly prized in the ancient world as makers of the honey that was both a desired food of great nutritional value and one of the few important preservatives at that time – as well as helping to heal wounds (thanks, as we now know, to its antibacterial properties).
Naomi Caplin is the owner of i nann a’s m agic al Gifts, located in a 15th-century weaver’s house on St andre w’s Hill in Norwich city centre.
Established in 1988, the shop has graced the n orwi ch l anes for 35 years, selling jewellery, incense, greetings cards, books, decorative items and more. you c an follow Inanna’s m agic al g ifts on f aceb ook and Instagram. m ail order is available on request. @inannasmagicalgifts
At jewish new year and other important celebrations, honey features as a representation of sweetness in life, whilst in finnish myth-stories, magic honey is used by a hero’s mother to restore him to life again.
In many countries, including in the uk, the tradition of ‘telling the bees’ about any significant changes in the family (especially deaths) is still followed by many beekeepers – the belief being that if the bees aren’t told, they may fly away! your could recommend the bee to clients who want to celebrate their hard work or success in a certain enterprise or in life generally; to those looking for a symbol of love and happiness, health and wellbeing, family, nature or the warmth of summer; or to bring a little sweetness into their lives.
F
o r t h e R e c h i n g
f irst Ly, introduce us a LL to t H e fL ux P iercing et H os..
sere na : o ur e thos at f lux is to offer clients high-quality, unpretentious, safe body piercing by forever-learning piercers. We pride ourselves on being an LGB t Q i A+ S afe Space, accommodating every human as they are and helping them to be their most authentic selves, safely and professionally.
W H en W as t H e st udio estab L is H ed, and H o W H as i t evo Lved over t H e ye ars?
S t u di o fo c u S
marn ie : Let me take you back to the summer of 2001, in the West End of Worthing, when c lair e Jesse opened the doors of the studio and welcomed the world in. o ver the next two decades, the studio developed in an ever-changing industry. Starting off with one piercer in situ, we’ve grown to the team of six amazing women we have now. Riding out a recession, a pandemic, Brexit, the demise of the high street, and then to roll head-on into another recession, we have risen like a phoenix from the ashes and come of age!
With big new goals, a charity walkathon and a prestigious business award win under their belts, the sky’s the limit for the f lux Piercing Studio team, based in Worthing, West Sussex. o wner
P rincess Marnie and Manager
serena : i thi nk we are one of the longestrunning purely piercing studios in the u K with nearly 23 years under our belt, which i con sider quite an accolade. We have only ever pierced here, which is quite uncommon, and no piercing gun has ever even entered the building – something we are all proud of!
We have adapted and improved constantly over the years. c lair e was taught to pierce in the 90s, and we have spent our years bettering ourselves with education from other piercers, the APP and u KAPP, and pushing ourselves to be the best we can be.
i be L ieve one of t H e bi ggest c H ange s came in L ate 2021, W it H big ne W goa L s for t H e st udio. t e LL us about t H at..
marn ie : t hat’ s me, i gue ss – i was the big change! <laughs> After a couple of uncertain years that we all faced, i did the sensible thing that anyone should do coming out of a pandemic – i bou ght a piercing studio, from my lifelong friend, c lair e. Having successfully built other people’s businesses up around the world throughout the lion’s share of my adult existence, i was finally able to do something for myself – and in an industry that i was passionate about, that i und erstood, and that has a fabulous, everevolving future.
sere na : i hav e known Marnie for years as a client of the shop and friend of c lair e’s ( i ’ve been here 11 years in o ctob er), and with her takeover it was the perfect opportunity to sit and discuss my hopes and dreams for f lux and how we could push it forward –and thankfully, she was on board with it all!
Marnie is as passionate as i am, not just about the studio changes, but also the need to bring safe piercing to the public as a discussion and push out this awful belief that ‘gun piercing’ is the norm, or in any way acceptable.
marn ie : i hav e a big belief that a business is only as strong as the people who deliver it. f or i nstance, two people can sell or provide an identical service, yet one will smash everything out of the park and the other won’t. Why is that? i t’s because people invest in people.
t he d irection you step as a team must be chosen together, working from the same page, treading the same path, believing in the same goal, passionately embracing change, and diversifying to stay in front. So, once i had an idea of where everyone wanted to be individually, it was time for Serena and i to si t down and devise the great master plan of how we were going to action and fund it!
N O w, just a y E ar a N d a half ON , tak E us ON a l I ttl E t O ur O f t O day’ s f lux P IE rc ING s tud IO...
s E r EN a : w e ar e just a two-minute walk from w orth ing’s beautiful beach. o ur b rand-new shop front is open with etched glass, making the reception light and bright. w e ha ve cabinets full of some of the most beautiful a PP-a pproved jewellery – d anil a tarci nale, Buddha, Junipurr, i ndus trial Strength, People’s Jewellery, a nato metal, and space being made for our first BV la ord er – along with sterile saline and the friendliest team of piercers keen to help in any way they can behind our glass-topped desk. w e’re also kitted out with Stiletto disposable equipment, and a brand-new h ydri m and Statim have arrived and are being installed, so we are finally becoming a fully disposable studio!
M ar NIE: e very thing has also been moved online, from booking and deposit systems to electronic consent forms and stock lists, and control measures have been put in place –all saving valuable time. a nd, in reception, the old uncomfortable chairs have been removed and replaced with bespoke upholstery, with a chaise taking pride of place in the window, bringing together a more welcoming space for the ultimate purely piercing experience.
s E r EN a : o ur g orgeous glittery electric chair is also very popular!
a s w E MEN t IONE d IN th E NE ws Pa GE s O f th E fE b/Ma r I ssu E , th E t E a M ’s h ard w O rk w as f O r M ally r E c OGNI s E d ju st r E c EN tly, was N ’t I t?
s E r EN a : yes! i n ou r industry it’s not often we get accolades or awards, so we were incredibly humbled and very excited when we heard that we had been nominated for not one, but two awards in the a dur and w orth ing 2022 Business a ward s!
M ar NIE: w hen we first arrived at the ceremony, we were met by strangers starting conversations with, ‘ you g uys pierced my aunty/daughter/son/nephew/grandmother!’ and ‘ h ow r efreshing to see you here, i so ho pe you win’. t hen our table buddies – a local independent pet store – banged the tables with their cutlery as our category nominations were read out!
to be nominated on a main stage alongside traditional businesses, solicitors, development companies and leisure facilities was mind-blowing – and despite incredibly stiff competition, we came away with the r etai ler of the year award.
i cou ld barely hear ‘ f lux Piercing Studio’ over the screaming and whistling as our entire team stood to take that walk to the stage. i ’m n early in tears now thinking about it!
s E r EN a : i t ce rtainly goes to show that the more you can do for your clients, the more you will thrive.
M ar NIE: yes, and i ’ve since been invited to talk at breakfast meetings to tell our story – people are interested! t imes are definitely changing – being recognised by your peers and industry is one thing, but being recognised in a world you didn’t know you were welcome in is priceless!
n ot o ne to rest on your L aure L s, i be L ieve you’ve undertaken anot H er
c H a LL enge t H is y ear too?
sere na : Whe n we saw that Refuge – an extraordinary charity helping survivors of domestic abuse – was looking for people to take part in a walking challenge to raise money, we couldn’t say no to getting involved as a studio! After all, there are so many people out there who can’t even leave their front door for fear of abuse – so we took every step for them.
marn ie : t he c harity is not only raising funds but also awareness of the abuse that a shocking 1 in 4 women suffer in this country. Being a team of six puts us firmly within that statistic. i am living proof this isn’t a situation or scenario people ask for, expect or welcome.
i t’s a horrific part of my journey, and still raw in my mind, 10 years clear. We asked people online to walk with us, donate, share the post, comment to keep it in others’ feeds – to do whatever they could to help as we individually walked 56 miles.
sere na : We managed to raise an amazing £395 in donations from our amazing family, friends and clients of the shop...
marn ie : and then the beauty of our industry stepped in too, with a physical response to our cry for support. Paddy Kielty of i ndus trial Strength u K co ntacted me to say he had popped jewellery in the post to aid our charity efforts. Are you serious? How super-kind a human is that man! He wasn’t approached, he wasn’t asked – he simply saw what we were doing and offered his help and support.
sere na : He graciously sent two of the most beautiful pieces from the i S co llection, and so 100% of the profits from the sale of these is going straight to Refuge! i can’t tell you how touched we are as a studio by his generosity and care for the community – what a credit to
the industry to have such amazing human beings as suppliers! i t ma kes you feel so supported and blessed to be a piercer when you have that kind of altruism and assistance from a huge company like i ndus trial Strength. t here a re no words for how much respect and admiration we have for Paddy.
marn ie : And the first piece was gone within 24 hours! i wou ld like to personally thank Paddy for his compassion, his empathy and most of all for his generous support of our studio’s effort to help countless people across the country. Paddy, sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar, thank you.
W H at W ou L d yo u say are t H e t H ree keys to studio success?
marn ie : f irst and foremost it has to be team work. i kno w a lot of piercers work alone, but we are your team! t he o ther studios up and down the country, the fabulous people who are making a difference for the industry through this amazing professional magazine, the tireless work of the volunteers who make up the u KAPP – we are your team.
Secondly, education – knowing that, even if we stand before a class as a teacher, we still have something to learn. Keeping an open mind and being ready to change through learning. to take that knowledge and pass it on to the next generation. to never be afraid to ask, be wrong or revisit the pages of a well-read book to refresh the knowledge locked inside.
t hird ly, respect – for yourself, your environment, your clients, your profession
and each other. If you treat every day with respect, along with every human you meet during that day, a whole new world opens in front of you. Be the best that you can be, to deliver what others need to become the best versions of themselves. Respect the path and the journey; you are a guest in its wake.
What does the future hold next for f lux?
M arn I e : I o ften joke with Serena, saying, ‘Today we will do what we do every day – try to take over the world!’ <laughs> But truthfully, I believe the future is very bright. We have been invited by local schools to speak on safe piercing, which we will be rolling out over the next few months. I am hugely excited by this and see it as a challenge to get that balance right with a new generation. Our little team is already starting to grow under the expert guidance of the awesome Serena, as Manager. Serena and Gemma, both Flux veterans, watch over the training of our lovely Torreya and apprentice Kelsey, who are both passionately growing and knocking their educational journey out of the
park daily. The latest member is the truly beautiful Tiani, who has recently joined us from Epsom to complete our well-rounded team of professional women, with a common goal and drive to be the very best that we can be. It will be exciting to watch the studio grow, as these women dream and aspirations and ideas grow.
sere na : Our next goal is UKAPP certification for the studio and all of our piercers for sure, but it would be lovely to include APP certification in the future, and travel to Las Vegas for convention. A bigger studio is definitely on my wish list too (sorry Marnie!) and, of course, the never-ending endeavour to be better for the clients we have, each and every day.
M arn I e : My ultimate dream is to be offering clients an ‘experience’, so that when they come to our studio they see it as a pampering session. Why not look forward to a booked half-hour appointment where we can discuss jewellery, look at different curations, plan different piercings? I want people to think of their piercing appointment as ‘me time’ – as positive personal time when the world revolves around them. Reach for the stars, I say!
‘Forever learning’ is a term commonly used in relation to piercing events and classes. There’s even an entire ‘Forever Learning’ Facebook forum for piercing professionals to communicate and learn from each other. So what does it mean and why should we be doing it?
a bout th E u K a PP C OMMENT
Forever learning is essentially another name for continuing professional development (CPD), and in pretty much every job, CPD is an important part of staying at the top of your game.
The piercing industry is constantly changing and evolving. New techniques are developed, new jewellery comes onto the market, or hygiene practices become understood more deeply. In order to move forward and stay up to date within the industry, it’s important to make sure that you’re continuing to learn throughout your career.
Learning should be conscious and proactive, rather than having to act reactively to catch up with your peers and avoid being left behind.
The U k a ssociation of Pro fessional Piercers (U ka PP) is a not-for-profit health and safety organisation dedicated to spreading knowledge of safe piercing practices and up-to-date information for industry professionals and the general public.
The organisation has a list of criteria that industry professionals are required to meet in order to become a member of the organisation. This includes environmental criteria, jewellery standards, and health and safety criteria such as being trained in first aid and blood-borne pathogens. The UKAPP also holds an annual educational conference.
Taking classes at conferences or online, reading articles and blogs and listening to podcasts are all super beneficial ways of continuing your education and developing as a piercer.
Folks who have been piercing for a while will sometimes dismiss this idea. It can be easy to think, ‘What can this person possibly teach me about this subject? I’ve been piercing for X number of years!’ – I’m here to tell you that you’d be surprised what you might gain from putting ego aside and attending that class regardless! There’s also real value in having ideas and concepts that you already understand reinforced by one of your peers.
Piercers who are constantly looking for new perspectives and keep striving to improve will not only continue to do better for their clients, but will also work towards their own longevity within the industry by making sure that they don’t become stagnant or outdated.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to keep growing, collaborating, improving and forever learning together.
AT COGNITION, WE STRIVE TO PROVIDE YOU AND YOUR BUSINESS WITH INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC, QUALITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING.
Blood-borne virustrainingbiosafety out now
WE AIM TO INSPIRE CURIOSITY THROUGH OUR PASSION FOR EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE AND THE PURSUIT OF INNOVATION WITHIN THE BODY ART INDUSTRIES
This year, m att Persse’s studio celebrated its 10th anniversary; but if you compared the business at its humble beginnings to the one you see now, you’d be forgiven for thinking they were two entirely separate entities – and you certainly wouldn’t guess how his journey as a piercer had begun.
On a cold afternoon in early March – almost 10 years to the day that he first opened Bee tatto oed with his nephew and business partner, tattooist Liam Bee – Matt settles down to share his story. “ i t wa s 11 March 2013 when we opened up a little shop in Stockport, at 15 Bramhall Lane,” he begins. “ i wor ked there as co-owner and manager; i was n’t a piercer in any way, shape or form.
“We were a traditional-style shop – really backstreet; flash on the walls, nothing matched.
Liam had come to me from five years in a similar setup in a place called g orto n, which was where they filmed Shameless back in the day. i t’s where we were from; it’s what we were.
“We paid £4,500 to open up the studio and to buy everything – i mea n, ev-erything! – and we literally just tattooed friends and family, or if we were really lucky a customer would walk in and spend 30 quid on a tattoo.”
i n tr uth, it was the need to bring more money into the studio that was the main driver behind Matt’s decision to step into piercing in the September of that year. n ot kno wing any different at that time, he enrolled on a week’s course in Salford, and then hit the ground running.
“We were offering £5 and £10 piercings for about twoand-a-half years!” he recalls. “a nd i was piercing with the most basic of the basic. When you came into my shop back in those days, i had no cabinet because there was no need for one! i had a barbell, i had a labret stud, i had a horseshoe, i had a BC r , pl us some staples and some dermals and that was it. i kno w for a fact that i onl y spent £4,000 on stock in the whole of 2015 – and the reason i rem ember it so well is because, at that time, i was t hinking, oh my god, we can’t afford this!
“We were lucky in that we got paid from day one, but we were barely scratching a living. i n ou r first week we made £638, and it took us about two years to hit a £1,000 week.”
From conference rookie to U kapp mem ber in just a year, and now celebrating a decade in business at Bee tatto oed in Stockport, Matt p erss e’s story is the stuff motivation is made of, as Louise Hoffman discovers
The learnin G curv e i t wa s in 2015 that Matt also heard of the recently formed U k a ssoc iation of p rofe ssional p ierc ers (U kapp ). h e in tended to go to their conference that year, and even bought a ticket, but had to change his plans at the last minute. So, when the event came around again in 2016, he was determined to attend.
“ i never went away anywhere in those days, so i tre ated myself to a really nice suite at the r adis son. When i arr ived i was n ervous as hell, but i was also like, you know what, i ’m a £10 piercer, i did 60 piercings last week, i ’m d oing really, really well – i ’m l aughin’!
“ i got myself a pint and sat down next to this dude with a massive Mohican, who turned out to be Olly todd. h e wa s literally the first person i spo ke to. i sai d, ‘ h ow you doin’ mate, you alright?’ and he replied, ‘Yeah i ’m d oing good thanks, how are you?’ i tho ught, wow, he’s well nicer than he looks! a nd h e was genuinely interested in how i was doing.
“So i tol d him, ‘Yeah, i did really well last week, mate, i did 60 piercings for, like, £600. h ow a re you doing, if you don’t mind me asking?’ a nd h e said,
‘Yeah, i did £3.5k’. i was like, ‘Wow! You did 300 piercings!’ a nd h e said, ‘ n ah i did about 40, mate’.
“ i lit erally said these words: ‘You’re a liar’,” Matt laughs, “and Olly replied, ‘ n o, b ut see that guy over there? pay h im a visit tomorrow and buy a couple of bits of jewellery off him’.”
t he f ollowing day, Matt made a beeline for the man Olly had pointed out: patri ck k ielt y of i ndus trial Strength U k . “ t here w as a massive crowd of people around his stand – i mea n, you couldn’t get to it!” Matt recalls. “But i ’m p retty bolshy, so i jus t pushed myself to the front and was like, ‘ r ight , what have we got?’. paddy asked, ‘Well, what do you want?’ and i exp lained that i had 480 quid. h e to ld me to come back in an hour, and when i did h e handed me this tiny bag of jewellery. i loo ked at it and thought, right, i fee l embarrassed and ashamed here – that’s my £480 gone!”
t hat evening in the bar, Matt heard story after story about how well everyone was doing by using better quality jewellery. “ i was t hinking, no, i don’t believe any of you!” he laughs. t hen on the train back, he sat staring at the little bag containing the 17 pieces of jewellery he’d spent all of his money on. “ i cou ldn’t work out how the feckin’ hell any of it would go on my bars, because my bars were externally threaded, and these pieces of jewellery had little nubbins on them!
“When i got home, i cal led round some of the people i ’d m et at the conference and said, ‘ i thi nk i ’ve been ripped off, i don’t know what these are, they don’t fit on my bars’. Between them, they pointed me in the right
direction to order the internally threaded bars i nee ded, then i go t a little 40-quid cabinet off a mazo n and put it up on the wall to display the pieces in.”
t hing s weren’t going to change overnight, however, and as the new jewellery sat languishing in the cabinet – with his current client base balking at the £30 price tag – the universe made it very clear to Matt that he still had more to learn.
“ i dec ided to go round places and see who was doing what – not in the local area, because i did n’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” he explains. “Whilst on holiday with the family in Minehead, i not iced that i an h uman was a 30-minute walk away, and i rem embered speaking to him once at the conference, so i wen t over there and asked if he minded me spending an hour with him. ‘Of course you can mate,’ he said. i wat ched him do a nose piercing, and as the client paid £35 my jaw hit the ground. i was like, ‘ h ow d id you just do that?’ and he said, ‘ i t’s normal, it’s just what we do’.”
The T urni n G poi n T h avin g picked up a huge amount of knowledge from the U kapp Con ference and from his studio tour, the time had come for Matt to put it all into practice.
“a ll t he way through that time, i jus t remember thinking, ‘ i wan t to be the best that i can be.
“i couldn’T work ouT how The feckin’ hell any of [The jewellery] would Go on my bars”
i wan t every customer to look in the mirror, smile, and then come back a few weeks, months or even years later and do it all again’,” he remembers.
t he f irst step was to move into bigger premises, and by a stroke of luck numbers 9 and 11 Bramhall Lane – just next door to his current studio – had become available.
“ t he f irst shop cost £4,500. t he s econd shop cost £32,000!” he laughs. “ t he b usiness has never been in debt, though – i ’ve al ways done what my mum and dad taught me: if it’s not in your pocket, don’t spend it. But i hav e such a good business partner that when i cam e back from that first conference with the bag of expensive jewellery and said to him, ‘Look, i kno w this is all a bit Jack and the Beanstalk, but just trust me’, he looked at me and said, ‘ i tru st you, i ’m n ot worried about you, you’ll make it back’.”
a nd t hat trust was well placed, because just one year later, after months of hard work and determination, Matt returned to the conference in 2017 with gusto as a fully certified member of the U kapp.
“a fter gaining membership,
my customer base changed,” he explains. “a t th at time i was d oing teeth whitening too – it was still legal then and it was something that paid our rent. i use d to whiten all these really rich people’s teeth – you know, from Bramhall, where the footballers live. t hen one day, a client said, ‘You know what, i ’m goi ng to bring my friends in –they’d love to have a piercing. Can you get something really nice in, because one of them is about to celebrate her birthday’. Well, her friends talked, and they talked, and they talked... and before i kne w it my £10 piercings had turned into £90, £120 and £150-plus piercings!”
Fast forward to today, and Matt’s cabinet space has tripled – with the contents changing beyond all recognition. “On the bottom row we have i ndus trial Strength and n eoMe tal navel and nipple jewellery. t hen th ere’s a row of a nato metal titanium, i ndus trial Strength titanium and a lot of n eoMe tal titanium. n ext up, i ’ve got eight boards of Junipurr, then above that i ’ve got six small boards of BVL a and a lot of a nato metal gold,” he enthuses.
“ i thi nk there are 1,200-plus pieces of jewellery in that cabinet now – and it’s 80% gold.”
The journey T rave lled a dec ade in business is a time to reflect for Matt. Looking back now, he has a birds-eye view of his entire journey to date.
“When i fir st became a piercer, i wan ted to do it all – i wan ted to be able to cut someone’s tongue in half, i wan ted to point someone’s ears, i wan ted to brand somebody. But my
customers have directed me my way,” he explains.
“My customer is a 40-plus lady looking to spend whatever she wants to because her business has worked really hard for the money. But my customers are also children – lots and lots of children! – who save their pocket money to get their ears pierced, so i wil l always do a cheaper option. Everything in my shop starts at £35, and we don’t do piercing fees. a cus tomer whose husband plays for Manchester United can get their ears pierced. a cus tomer who earns a medium wage can get their nose pierced for 40 quid. a nd e very piercing is treated the same way – whether i ’m u sing a classic piece or a £2,000 cluster from BVL a .”
But over the years, Matt has learned that word of mouth is the main key to success, over and above premises and stock. “ p eopl e buy people,” he adds. “ i t’s the same way i bui lt my business – i loo ked at Olly todd, i loo ked at i an h uman , i loo ked at a iden Johnson, i loo ked at a ndre w Davenport, and i tho ught, i ’d l ove to do what they’re doing; i ’d l ove to have something i ’m p roud of.
“ n ow i hav e exactly that, and you know what? You can do this
“ i T hink T here are 1,200-plus pieces of jewellery in T haT cab ine T now – and i T ’s 80 % G old”
as well,” he states confidently, addressing any piercing professional out there who has ever doubted their ability to grow, achieve their goals, and be the best.
“When people say, ‘Oh, i ’m bac kstreet, i can ’t sell gold’. Well, i ’m t wo miles away from Stockport centre and 11 miles away from Manchester, on a destination street with hardly any parking. i ’m b ackstreet, and i sel l gold. Don’t ever let anyone, or yourself, hold you back.”
When asked what his number one piece of advice would be, he doesn’t hesitate: “ n ever be afraid to ask anything – ask so many questions, and when you get near a piercer, plug them for as much information as you can. Every single day you pick up that needle, you’ve learned something – from new techniques to the way a customer is – and everyone can teach us something, whether they’ve been piercing for three weeks or three years.
“a bove all, if you’re doing something, do it the fiercest way you possibly can, and do it the best you possibly can.”
@dmbodypiercing
@beetattooedstockport
37 Sharp thinking
“ e very sin G le day you pick up T haT nee dle, you’ve learned some T hin G ”
‘The Incredible Til’ was first introduced to an audience in an article authored by the American tattooer and piercer Sailor Sid Diller in 1981, issue 12 of Piercing Fans International Quarterly ( PFIQ ). While the dedication to and extensiveness of Til’s modifications command great respect and attention, the depth of his contribution to the historical record may be even more significant. Other than Til, only a handful of people are known to have extensively documented their
piercing practices during the early-to-mid-20th century. He kept a detailed diary, but we have no idea if it exists today.
By his choice, not much was known publicly about ‘Til’, an adopted nom de plume used for his rare public engagements. For most of his life, privacy was essential for the protection of his marriage and livelihood. Earlier in his life, he let us know he was from Cardiff, Wales. Finally, in the 1990s, Til started to allow his real first name, Tom, to be used in print on the pages of Pauline Clarke’s Piercing World magazine.
Most of what we know about Tom comes from correspondence. So far as we are aware, of 11 letters in total, most are dated 1965 or 1966, with one outlier of 1982. The earliest found letter is dated 29 April 1965, when Tom was already in his 50s, addressed to fellow member Albrecht Becker of Rudi Inhelder’s Tattoo Club of America (TCA). Tom was a long-time pen pal with Roland Loomis (Fakir Musafar) and a frequent pen pal with ‘Bud Housen’ (an earlier alias of Viking Navaro), as well as Albrecht Becker. The recipients of the known letters break down as six letters to Bud, two letters to Fakir and three letters to Albrecht Becker.
We know he wrote others, but we haven’t found additional letters. Neither do we have copies of letters from Tom’s pen pals to him; however, we gain some valuable insight into them through Tom’s replies. From clues in a letter to Fakir,
For this issue’s archive dive, Body Piercing Archive Founder PAUL KING focuses on a fascinating figure from UK body modification history: Til of Cardiff
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Time for T echn ique:
After 15 years in the game, Olly T O dd ha s become one of the industry’s best-known teachers, renowned for his wealth of experience and calm approach. Here, he shares some tops tips for inside-out nostrils
The way to tackle nostril piercings varies depending on the method, tools and experience you have at your disposal.
t he i nside-out approach gives you a smoother and completely disposable way of tackling nostril piercings in my opinion – but when using this method, there are a number of different things you need to think about, such as the exit point and the direction the needle will travel due to the bevel the needle has.
1. As the images show, i hav e broken down some useful prompts that i use t o achieve the best result – the first of these being the marks used for the piercing. w hen marking, i lik e to use a t-sha pe mark to allow me to see the line the needle needs to travel in.
2. t he s econd key thing you need to consider is the bevel of the needle and how you can actually use this to your advantage when piercing from the inside of the nostril. b y ha ving the bevel of the needle facing away from the nostril wall, you are utilising the bevel to correct the angle as it comes through the tissue. you c an do this by marking the underside of the septum at the angle you need to line-up the needle.
3. to fi gure out the depth of the entry point of the needle on the inside of the nostril, you can use the needle as a ruler. s impl y hold it up to the mark you made on the outside of the nostril and measure the distance to the edge. i t’s then easy to transfer this logic to the inside, and start the process of getting the right angle for the bevel of the needle, in order to give you the right exit point.
I hope you enjoyed this article, if you have any questions, shoot me a message.
@cristiano_borneoflower
4. you s hould also be aware of the tissue on the inside of the nostrils. n ot a ll tissue inside a person’s nasal cavity is flat and some may have prominent ridges that could alter the angle of the jewellery if not taken into consideration. t he t issue can also differ on each side. b y ch ecking this out and making sure that you pierce through a flat piece of tissue, you will give your client a better healing experience, as well as a better healed result.
Based at Factotum in Norwich, Olly Todd has been piercing since around 2008.
A regular speaker at the UKAPP Conference and Piercer Trade Show, as well as teaching at BMXnet in Germany and a host of private studio events, his educational work has rapidly expanded
5. When using this method of piercing you also need to consider the best way to transfer your labret post. Personally, I prefer to use a snip due to the taper adding too much length for me to hold comfortably. Using the shorter snip allows me to pierce and transfer the jewellery into place in one motion, making the process smoother and more pleasant for the client.
6. This technique works for most positions on the nostril except for higher placements, such as the one pictured, due to the restrictive space inside the top of the nostrils. Higher placements are therefore better suited to the outside-in approach.
7. And here is the end result of the inside-out nostril piercing!
since 2019. Having launched Cognition Training in 2021, he now delivers online and in-person seminars to body art professionals across the world, as well as fully regulated First Aid at Work courses and the first-ever UKspecific blood-borne pathogen training for piercers.
g etting to know who you are outside of work can make a huge difference to your quality of life, as well as benefitting your business in return, as Jess s ella rs of The l una Co llective in n otti ngham explains
are all here, reading this magazine, because we have this thing we love: body piercing. and I mean we love it so much, right?
A lot of us have dedicated most of our adult life to our work; attending conferences, constantly learning and surrounding ourselves with our peers – and that’s great! How amazing it is to love our job this much!
b ut d o we love it so much that we forget it is a job? That there has to be a balance somewhere? We still need to be ourselves; we need to be something more than just a piercer.
i spent the first four years of my career completely dedicated to piercing and the shop i wor ked for. i wor ked six days a week, sometimes seven if i cou ld. i liv ed and breathed piercing – constantly talking about it and thinking about it. My whole life was piercing.
i wou ld be so hard on myself that, if i had a day off, i wou ldn’t do things with my friends or do anything for myself because i tho ught i had to focus all my attention on piercing. i won dered why a lot of my friendships and
relationships failed; looking back, it’s because no one really had the same level of commitment and attention as piercing did.
Then one day, i got a phone call in which i was told to never go back to my job – and i hon estly felt like my whole world was crashing down around me. i fou nd myself so bored and so lost, and i rea lised it was because i did nothing but piercing!
i wis h i cou ld say that in the months i was u nemployed i fou nd myself and realised that there was more to life than piercing, and from then on i had an amazing work-life balance – but actually, my studio, The luna Collective, then came along, and i had a new hyperfocus. n ot o nly was i ded icated to piercing, i no w had a business to run! n ew r esponsibilities and commitments, and even more weight on my shoulders...
i use d to glamorise this idea that being dedicated and so in love with your career was the only measure of success. i tho ught the whole point of being selfemployed and being a business owner was to work and make a name for yourself. i ido lised all these entrepreneurs and ‘boss ladies’ who would wake up at 5am to ‘rise and grind’.
Then guess what happened? A fucking glO b A l PA n D e M i C! A lmost a full year of not being able to work led me to realise that i did n’t know much about myself outside of working. i did n’t know how to not be busy. i fel t like i was just a piercer, and i cou ldn’t even be that, so who even was i ? Wh at was the point?
i think there are a couple of reasons why piercers in par ticular work themselves into the ground, but the main one is probably because we feel a need to prove ourselves. How many times have we heard the term ‘just a piercer’? How many times have we been asked: “Oh, do you not tattoo?”; “ i s th at your full-time job?”; “Are you learning to tattoo?”.
And let’s be honest, piercers have been the skivvies and underdogs of the body art industry for decades. We would have to have 10 times as many clients as a tattooist in order to make the same money. Plus, piercers are often the only people in the shop to not get a percentage, but rather a fixed (low) wage. Piercing is simply seen as a quick money maker – an addition to the tattooists.
s o of course we feel the need to perform well so that people take us seriously; to prove that we are as valuable as the tattooists; to show we aren’t afraid of hard work, and that piercing is hard work too.
‘ l ook, see how hard we are working? l ook! l ook! We work six days a week! We never sit down! We don’t even get time to eat!’
u ltim ately, we are trying to prove our worth – but really, when it comes down to it, our worth comes from within us, not from the external validation of others.
i f yo u’re having to work that hard to prove to someone how valuable you are, then they don’t deserve you. i f we define our whole self-worth by how well our business is doing, we can’t really be happy with ‘just us’. b usin esses have good times, hard times, quiet times, unprecedented times, and stuff that is completely out of our control, so if the way you’re feeling about yourself relies on your work, it’s a pretty uncertain and probably anxious way to exist.
It’s time to really know your worth. We aren’t just piercers. We are photographers, who take stunning photos of our gorgeous jewellery; we are social media managers promoting our products and services; we are accountants, figuring out costs, mark-ups, payroll and VAT; we are customer services, answering hundreds of messages; we are cleaners and stock takers; we are everything that bigger companies have teams of people for – all in one person!
b ut – we get to make people smile every single day. We get to adorn them with beautiful jewels and make them feel amazing in less than an hour. That’s an actual super power! i t’s magic! How wonderful to have the power to make someone’s day – to be the reason they were excited to get up that morning, and are now
walking with a new spring in their step.
Think of that and remember: we are way more than ‘just’ a piercer. We are also mothers, fathers and partners – we have a role outside of work too that is just as important and requires as much attention. We need to have energy left at the end of the day to give to our loved ones at home. How did their day go? Or are you too busy replying to your client at 8pm to remember to ask? your fa mily will still love you, even if you didn’t sell gold that day. your doggo doesn’t care if you posted enough on social media, he just wants you to give him all the cuddles! your worth is not defined by your daily sales or your likes on i nsta gram.
We are a W hole p erson outside of our jobs, so W hat does that person look like?
We are a whole person outside of our jobs, so what does that person look like? What makes them laugh? What’s their favourite thing to do?
g etti ng to know yourself properly is an amazing journey, and will improve every aspect of your life –including work. The more growth work you do on yourself, giving yourself all the things you need, the more you’ll have to give to your job. The more love and passion you give yourself, the more you’ll have for your work.
i f we truly understand ourselves – what makes us happy, what makes us sad, what gives us anxiety – then we can learn tools to help support ourselves. That way, when stressful times come (and come they will), we will have a tool box to help us deal with them. After all, if the only thing that makes you happy is how much gold you sold this week, then what’s going to happen to your mental health on a quiet week?
Piercing starts with you –you don’t start with piercing. And the best way to meet yourself is to spend time with yourself. Away from piercing, just being you.
You are more than just a piercer, in every single way.
If you want any help making a start on this, please feel free to reach out to me – I’d love to hold space and chat with you!
I’ve been a piercer for more than 10 years! When I was about 13 I went to get my first piercing, centre of my bottom lip. I remember meeting the piercer and thinking, ‘Wow this person is so cool! I’d love to be as cool as them when I grow up!’.
When I went through education I started to think about how I could get on to this career path, and I used my university money to start looking for a course (I know, naughty, using that money and also, a course? I 100% don’t recommend that now. I can see how better informed my own junior piercer is!).
My experience with a course, you ask? I struggled to learn anything! From crosscontamination, to blood-borne pathogens, to what angles to penetrate the skin at, and what jewellery was safe; I was not taught anything in-depth on these topics. NEVER do a course! I learnt nothing other than how to be confident when stabbing people, which means nothing if you don’t know what goes on behind all that.
This meant starting from the bottom – £10 piercings left and right, making £50 a week; teaching myself everything I know now, working hard and doing it alone. I lived in shared accommodation, survived on Poundland noodles, and worked in a tattoo shop where piercings were just seen as an easy option to bring more business in, not respected as a real job.
One of the things I’m most proud of is definitely The Endless Knot. I look back at old videos of
the studio and I love to see how much it’s grown and changed. In the early days, there was not one piece of gold in the cabinet. Now we have a massive range of high-quality body jewellery, all APP standard, and are looking at expanding our premises as well as jewellery stock. We also sell jewellery worldwide through
the web store I created during lockdown.
Never did I think clients would understand why a circular barbell costs £40-plus instead of £5, but they do! They want the best for their bodies and their family or friends. Our clientele shifted massively, and with our improved standards came bigger spenders. I am proud that I can call myself a UKAPP member now, and I know I am giving the absolute best to my clients.
Running at the highest standards and charging more also gives me time to do other things; time to breathe, time for a coffee and paperwork –heck, even enough time to train someone and give another member of staff a liveable wage to help out with things when it gets busy!
The main thing I’d like other piercers to take from my journey is to know your worth! Always think of how you can improve. When a client comes to you, make it a great experience –make it memorable. Look after their needs and wants – it’s a celebration of their bodies, so treat it as such!
If you want to get started as a piercer, don’t look for a course, as it won’t teach you the important stuff and there is still a lot of misinformation out there. Find a studio that you like and trust; one that is safe and clean. I would definitely recommend seeking to train under a UKAPP/ APP member! @endless_knot_studio
As for many piercers, starting out was a struggle for Leaf Charles of The Endless Knot in Hartlepool. But now they are flying...
