Story behind a known piercer / mod artist Jesse Villemaire

Jesse Villemaire

I would have never guessed that I'd spend over 1/3 of my life dedicated to piercing. Body Modification was foreign to me in most of my teenage years. It wasn't until my early twenties when I found the world of body modification and got completely submerged. Fast forward 15 years and I'm still proud to be a part of this ever growing community!

2001 was the year I was introduced to the idea of becoming a body piercer. At the time I was working for a popular cellular phone company and I was the typical "suit and tie salesman" at a local mall. After years of working for larger corporations, I always had an entrepreneur mind set and wanted to build a business of my own. Many of my side projects had prospered and some had failed. It felt as though I was destined to be working in a corporate setting for the rest of my life.

A very good friend of mine was a local tattoo artist and he was given the opportunity to open his own tattoo studio in 2001. I remember him discussing the possibility of me joining him on this new venture as a body piercer. At that time I had no piercing training, no skills, and no idea where to even begin looking for the proper education. My mind was flooded with the dream of working next to one of my best friends and building a small empire together. However I was fixated on finding the proper guidance before committing to such a new venture.



  I was first introduced to BMEzine.com (Body Modification Ezine) around that time and spent many hours per day researching all the articles online that Shannon Larratt had collected on his website. I became addicted to reading, learning, collecting photos of everything piercing related. It fascinated me to find this community in which I never really discovered earlier in my lifetime. At this point I was hooked, and started seeking proper schooling and an apprenticeship.

I soon realized that piercing schools really didn't exist, at least not in Canada at the time. I also realized that finding someone to apprentice me as a piercer was going to be quite difficult as well. Luckily for me a local piercer had decided to leave the industry and she offered to train me for a small fee. At the end of my apprenticeship she would provide me with all the tools and knowledge that I would need to start my new endeavour. I felt as though everything was coming together just fine.

Our new studio (Twisted Body Art) opened up in August of 2001, in Cambridge Ontario, Canada. My piercing teacher was alongside me when we opened and she watched over all the piercings I did in the early stages, which weren't very many at the time. I kept pushing her for more information, for more guidance and started even questioning her piercing knowledge at times. Some of the information that I had consumed online was contradicting to the information I gathered from my teacher. This left me confused and asking a lot of questions. I recall getting into heated debates with my teacher, and within my first month of my apprenticeship she decided to quit teaching me. I was devastated and thought my new found love of piercing was over. She sold me her piercing equipment and said "good luck!"

I'm not one to back down from a challenge and I thought I can continue on piercing and seek knowledge elsewhere. Now I was consumed reading as much information online and even ordered some poor quality "How to Pierce" video tapes. I must have studied those tapes for too many hours as the picture quality began to fade throughout those months. Looking back at this now it's almost embarrassing but I also remember that this was prior to all the useful groups, blogs, forums online that we have today. It was a lot more difficult to seek the right answers.




BMEzine proved to be the biggest source of information for me to learn. I searched out the best Piercers that were frequently submitting photos to that website. In my direct area there weren't many quality Piercers so I decided to put myself into the path of those I looked up too at the time. I printed out a portfolio of my piercing photos and drove to Toronto and Montreal to seek constructive criticism from Tom Brazda of Stainless Studios and Pierre Black of Black Sun Studio. Walking into their establishments was eye opening for me. I was starting to see what a "real" and "reputable" piercing business looked like and I wanted the same thing. These two gentlemen actually took the time out of their busy schedules to look at my portfolio and provided me with some insight on how I can improve my skills. There were no egos, just genuine people willing to share information with someone new. I was recharged.

The first few months of business fell apart pretty fast and my best friend and I decided to become business partners in a new part of town. Eternal Body Art was born. Throughout the few years that we had this new business, we were growing very rapidly. It was proving to be more difficult to keep up with the business growth as we had little knowledge on how to succeed as a business. We just wanted to show up, hang out, do our piercings and tattoos, and then hang out all night. It seemed like the perfect situation, and we were getting paid!

The stress built up within the third year and I realized our friendship was in jeopardy of falling apart. We were young and didn't know how to deal with those feelings so we decided to keep them to ourselves and grew further apart. In the summer of 2005 I decided to walk away from our friendship, and partnership, in search of something new. At the time I wasn't sure if I was going to move away from town and start fresh somewhere else, or if I'd stay local and continue with my passion. I walked away and to this day I believe it was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do.

I had a vision, one of which wasn't in our area at the time, and I decided to continue doing business in my hometown. I found a vacant building and opened Thrive Studios only a couple months after I left my business partnership. It felt like a breath of fresh air, building the studio of my dreams and hiring a crew of solid people to work with. It started small, one piercing room and one tattoo room with a small front lobby and sterilization area. I had a good feeling that if we continued to grow in size that our landlord would be able to offer us more space if needed. Two years into our lease agreement the landlord offered us the property for sale as they were retiring. We were obviously thrilled at the idea of owning our own building and continuing the growth of Thrive Studios.

Renovations started almost immediately and we converted the second floor apartment space into a beautiful open loft area which could situate four tattoo artists comfortably. The main floor expanded with a larger piercing area, and a larger show room to showcase the highest quality body jewelry available within our industry. Anatometal, BVLA, NeoMetal, Gorilla Glass, Maya, and Omerica became well known brands to our clientele looking for the best of the best. We were proud to be the only studio around offering the highest quality piercing jewellery and we continue to uphold these standards today. Thrive Studios has surpassed our ten year anniversary and I couldn't be more ecstatic about our continued success throughout the years. A combination of great staff, customer service, continued education, quality piercings and tattoos, as well as a proper sense of business growth has lead us into our next decade of business.


Continuing education has also been a large part of my personal growth and paying it forward where I can. I love to teach and educate those who are as hungry for knowledge as I am. I believe the day you stop learning is the day you should quit. Piercing has become a huge passion of mine and it has also introduced me to some of the best people in my life. The Association of Professional Piercers (APP) has brought many of us likeminded people together from around the world to provide the best education to the piercing community at the annual conference in Las Vegas. I am honoured to teach alongside my peers providing relevant information to the next generation of Piercers in this industry.

Throughout my career as a piercer I also became great friends with David Vidra of Health Educators. My quest for knowledge brought me into his organization as an instructor and we travelled throughout Canada and the United States providing health and safety education to the body modification industry. Focusing on subjects such as infection control, sterilization, disinfection, bloodborne pathogens, we taught hundreds of students throughout the years.

Alongside Thrive Studios, I decided to open another business in late 2014, Progressive Mentorship. I asked a couple of other great Piercers that I respect dearly to join me on this new path of educational classes geared towards the tattoo and piercing industry. Efix Roy, Ryan Ouellette and myself have been busy providing new classes geared towards infection prevention and control, including hands on workshops to help Piercers grow with new piercing techniques. These classes have been well received within our community and we look forward to expanding our classes throughout North America and Europe in the future!

In closing I'd like to thank my clients, staff, friends, teachers, and everyone's hand I've shook throughout the years. Our paths were meant to cross somehow and each and everyone of you has helped me become the person/piercer/educator/business owner that I am today. I am extremely grateful.

Jesse Villemaire Thrive Studios
1037 King St E Cambridge,
ON N3H 3P5 519-653-4333

www.thrivestudios.ca
info@thrivestudios.ca
www.progressivementorship.com 
info@progressivementorship.com

Text and photo's: Jesse Villemaire
-Angie
Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 112/august 2016

Jesse & me APP2016 Las Vegas

Interview Hetty van Dorp

Hetty van Dorp

Name: Hetty van Dorp
Manager/Piercer Body Design in Gent (B)

Can you describe yourself in one sentence?
Professional, inventive and fascinated.

How long have you been piercer?  18 years

Why this profession?
After the training interior architecture (Rotterdam Art Academy) and many trips later I ended up in Ghent. Here I met Tanne, she was a partime tattoo artist for over 3 years. With the art of body painting I grew a fascination to piercings. A social job where confidence is important, and where I also have an advisory role: every human being is unique. Eventually we decided to join forces and together in 1999 we opened our studio Body design.

How or from whom did you learn the skills?The basics I learned from a piercer from Antwerp. Through independent study and many contacts with fellow piercers in the Netherlands and abroad (e.g. Miranda of Rotterdam), I  further specialized. In 2002: I followed all seminars from the APP and read The Point. To this day, I still learn.

The first piercing you did was a?
"the first piercings I've put on myself. Just on my leg. I wanted to feel the difference between fast and slow pricks and try out certain techniques. This strategy I give to each pupil piercer. " 



Who or what inspires you? Fakir Musafar (us) and the way he deals with Body modification. This 85 year old master at an early age began to experiment at a time when no one had heard of piercings in the Western world. He continues his boundaries purely out of fascination about his own body.


Can you tell something about your studio/workspace?

Body design (1999) is set in a historic building on the Nederkouter, Centre of Ghent. We are currently working with 4  tattooists, 2 piercers and a store manager. We also have  regularly guest tattoo artists visiting.

 What kind of piercing do you prefer?
 I do like challenges. Each ear  is unique, so are the possibilities, each person is differently. Also people with inverted nipples I'll be happy to help.

What's the best piece of advice you ever got when you started out and think it would help other starters in this industry?
The best advice I can give is: give clear advice to every customer. Be communicative and informative and of course: hygiene, creativity and aftercare are necessary.


Do you have a nice or weird experience as a piercer you want to share with us?
A customer with a mole on the tip of his nose asked if I could put a dermal anchor in to camouflage. He was determined and I spent half an hour to get him to explain why this is not a good idea ☺

Does your work involve more then just piercing?Piercer and Managing Director of Body design are my main activities.
Also branding (scarification) and body paint are specialties.

How do you see yourself in 5 years?Future alterations to our ship gives us the opportunities to start teaching. Also a private practice is an option.

Do you have a tip or do you want to add something to this interview? 
Read the body,  it's a different story everytime

Body Design
Nederkouter 34, 9000 Gent
www.bodydesign-gent.be

Answers and photo's: Hetty van Dorp
-Angie
Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 112/august 2016

I want an uh ...? piercing

For each piercing place is a name. However, it can be confusing. 
It is very important to know the right wording for your piercing. make sure to be clear about the desired place to your piercer, or point out the place, if you do not know the name. I've had a customers who asked for a Daith, but meant a Rook. or thought a micro Dermal was the same as a surface piercing. Even the helix is a broad concept because of it's wide surface choice.

We cannot say it enough, be well informed and considered about your desired piercing.

Make sure you go to a reputable studio, which gives you information in advance, then someone who will just pierce you without a lot of questions, and later on discover that it is not the desired spot you wanted the piercing, or get infections

It is also possible that your desired piercing can't be placed because of your anatomy. Every body is different, please be advised that those beautiful piercing that you have seen on a picture, may look different on you. Your tragus is too small, your tongue deficit. or your body / skin can't handle any piercings.

It's your body, be careful, be well prepared.








Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 111/juli 2016
-Angie

Schoutout

Dear readers, thank you for visiting, hope you enjoy my blog.

Schoutout:
I would like to explore more subjects:

* interviewing different associations in the world, why / how they started one, what and why they have different criteria for membership, and their goals.

* Suspension,  would love to do a report on location, how it works, feels, and why. Interview the man behind the hooks, and hear the excitement before and after hanging, the intense feeling. Just to give the readers more insight.

*Iam open for all ideas, you want to read, or talk about

* Much more to come :)

If you are interested in one of the above, please contact me
really appreciate the help to learn more

thank you
-Angie

Story behind a known piercer/mod artist Shorty Piercer

Story behind a known piercer / mod artist

 (Interview Style)

When started your passion for piercing? 

Shorty Piercer

Its really difficult to nail down exactly when my passion for piercing started.  As a child I would sit in school and stick pins, tacks and staples into the surface skin of my finger just to see where I could start to feel the sensation of pain and then back off.  It fascinated me how the body interprets sensations in different ways.

When I was a little older I remember watching an afternoon talk show with my mother and in that episode they pierced someone’s tongue and eyebrow.  It really sparked an interest in me.  Like how does someone willingly sit there and allow needles to be pushed thru their body without being in pain.  A few years after that I was watching the Rose Parade on TV, that year there happened to be a group of indigenous people marching in the parade from Indonesia or Malaysia.  They were adorned in their traditional tribal wears but the thing that really caught my attention was they all had these really amazingly long earlobes with lots of brass rings hanging from them.  I mean really long, dangling down past their shoulders.  At that moment I decided I wanted my ears to look like that.  I believe I was probably about 11 or 12 years old.  It just intrigued me so much that the human body can be altered so much.

                                                     
                                                     

                                                      How did you become one? and who was your teacher?

Growing up, my parents were very strict and not approving of any alteration to the human body. When I turned 18 years old I moved away to go to University.  My parents would always say “you can do what you want when you’re no longer living under our roof” so that’s exactly what I did.  I decided one night sitting at a friend’s house it was time for me to take the plunge and get my first modification.  I choose to start with the one thing I’d wanted since I was young, my tongue.  Just so happened my friend had a buddy who did piercings and called him up.  He told us to meet him at his house at a specific time and he’d “hook me up” for $50.  That was pretty cheap back then, tongue piercings generally ran about $80 or more so I was pretty excited.  He took us into his bedroom, had me sit on his bed and rinse with mouthwash.  He told me he didn’t have any clamps with them, he left them at work but he could freehand it no problem.  It never occurred to me that everything that was about to happen was about as unsafe as it could possibly be, I just didn’t know any different, so I stuck my tongue out, needle went thru quickly followed right behind by the jewelry and I was all done.  It was just that easy, no pain, no discomfort, just a new thing in my mouth for me to get used to.  The aftercare I was given comprised basically of just rinsing with mouthwash after I put anything in my mouth for a month.

The next day I woke up in a lot of pain, tongue extremely swollen.  I was a bit freaked out so I went online and searched out tongue piercings to see if this was normal.  I found this really amazing website called “Body Modification Ezine”.  After reading all about tongue piercings I just keep reading and reading and reading.  I got completely sucked in and couldn’t get away!  Every free moment I spent reading every possible thing I could about everything body modification.  It was at that point I decided I wanted to be a part of this community; I wanted to be a piercer.

Of course it doesn’t just happen that easy.  For the next few years I spent as time as I could reading, researching and learning about body piercing.  I spoke with many piercers online and in person asking all the questions I could think of about body piercing and getting new piercings myself.  After about 2 or 3 years I finally was able to land an apprenticeship at a local shop and after only 6 months of practicing and watching I was given my first full days as a piercer.  After working in the same shop for about 5 or 6 years I finally left only to realize that most of what I was “taught” was not very accurate or good, but the experience that I had gained doing 30 or 40 piercings a day was invaluable.

What are your specialities? and why you love them.

I don’t really believe that I have any specialties.  There are a few piercings that I do enjoy doing more than others but I continue to evolve and learn better techniques.  Daith piercings have always had a special place in my heart and I really enjoy doing them.  Beyond that, nostrils are enjoyable due in part to their simplicity but wide margin of error. 

Do you do more then just piercings?

I’m “just a piercer” and I rather enjoy it that way.

You are a real familieman? and you are really short in real life?

Besides piercing, family is my other passion.  I love my family very much and everything I do in life is for my kids.  I have 4 from 21 years old to 7 years old.  They are my world!

I’m really short in real life.  4’11” to be exact!

What is your goal?

My goals are always changing.  I am constantly setting new goals for myself daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and even farther.  The important thing for me is to make sure the goals are realistic and achievable and then set out to accomplish them in the best possible way. 

Is there something you are proud of, in what you’ve been doing?

I am very proud that after 14 years of piercing I was finally able to become an APP Member.  I’m very proud of my current success as a business owner and the strides I’ve made locally to improve the industry.  I’m proud of the goals that I set forth for myself and accomplished quicker than any one ever expected.

How do you see the future? are there plans?

The future is bright!  I have no real plans at the moment other than continue doing what I’m already doing.

Do you have any advice for our readers? or do you want to add something to this interview?

Best bit of general advice is to always set goals for yourself.  Many of goals.  Just as I said earlier, make sure they are realistic and they are achievable and then crush them!

www.facebook.com/piercingbyshorty

www.instagram.com/shortypiercer

www.shortypiercer.tumblr.com

www.PiercingsByShorty.com


Text and photo's : Shorty Piercer

-Angie
Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 111/Juli 2016

Shorty & me APP2016 Las Vegas

Interview Dana karanelan

Interview

Dana Karanelan

Name: Dana Karanelan (Dana Dead Girl)
Bodycult, Amsterdam

Can you discribe yourself in one sentence?
Helpfull and friendly

How long have you been a piercer?
I pierce since 2010







Why this profession?

Six years ago a piercer from Bodycult asked me  if I wanted to do an apprenticeship, they needed new piercers, I just lost my job at a online webshop as designer, marketing. This was a great opportunity for me.

How or from who did you learn the skills?
By following the apprenticeship at Bodycult, first shadowing and learning the regulations, set ups and later on slowly started to pierce. I had 3 months of training 4/5 days a week 10 hours a day.

The first piercing you did was a?
I honestly don't know, at my training I did 15-20 piercings a day

Who or what inspires you?
The people around me

Can you tell me something about your workplace?
At the moment I work in Amsterdam, Reguliersbreestraat, one day a week as piercer, the smallest studio of Bodycult, but the busiest with piercings. rest of the week Iam the floormanager. Been working for the last 5 years at the Bodycult studio Warmoestraat as fulltime piercer. and often worked at our other locations in Utrecht and Den Haag.

Which piercing do you prefer to do?
I like to do almost every piercing

What's the best piece of advice you ever got when you started out and think it would help other starters in this industry?
The more relaxed you are as piercer, the faster your customer is also at ease.

A lot of patience because people trust you that it is done well.

Do you have a nice or weird experience as a piercer you want to share with us?
Every day something funny or weird happens. But I do remember, the first customer who fainted in the first week I worked full time alone.
The client wanted a large eyebrow piercing, so I followed all my steps to procede and when I was done with the piercing, he stood up and falls down. I was pretty fast to catch him but didn't realize it was dead weight, so there I laid on the floor with the customer on me, calling out to my colleagues, who rescued me.
Fortunately my customer and I had nothing.

Does your work involve more then just piercing?
Like I said above, I also work a number of days as floor manager, also opening and closing shop. Greet customers, post appointments and all things floor managers do in a tattoo/piercing shop. 

And sometimes I do photoshoots as an alternative model. I used to do it for webshops and stores as a model, and also have been in magazines a number of times. But that's really a hobby.


How do you see yourself in 5 years? I see myself still doing this job. Possibly as a piercer and shop manager. A lot of people always ask whether or not I want to open my own shop because my boyfriend is a tattoo artist. (Joe Sinner operating at Acid Tattoo Alkmaar) But that's not really the plan.
There are enough shops in our frogy country.

Do you have a tip or do you want to add something to this interview?
You can find my work on facebook

www.bodycult.nl

-Answers and photo's: Dana Karanelan
Angie
-Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 110/june2016

Story behind a known piercer/mod artist Luis Garcia

Luis Garcia

Story behind a known piercer/bodymod artist
(interview style)

When started your passion for piercing?

My grandfather had a collection of National Geographic magazines, and I was always in awe of how beautiful the body art and modifications were in the various cultures they showed.  I loved it so much that I began to pierce myself at the age of 10.  

How did you become one? and who was your teacher?

I was initially self taught.  I found a copy of PFIQ (Piercing Fans International Quarterly magazine) in a funky head shop, and it had a "how to" article for a guiche piercing.  I used what they said in the article to pierce anything anyone would let me do. Through trial and error I got somewhat of a handle on things.

Once I moved away to study at university in 1995, I got a job at a shop (Perforations in Washington DC, which has been closed since 1999) as a counter person (they didn't feel that I had enough knowledge yet to pierce, even though I had been piercing several years at that point).  Within 2-3 months they took me on as an apprentice.  My mentors there were Andrew Lewis and Onabe Tashi, both of which have retired from piercing at this point.  After apprenticing for 6 months, I was piercing full time un-observed.  

After you moved to Philly and started working at Infinite body piercing how did you end up as teacher for the APP?

I actually didn't begin teaching for the APP until 2003 or so, after I had moved to NoKaOi Tiki Tattoo and Piercing.  I had loved going to conference and learning.  They were introducing the first surface piercing technique class, and asked me to be part of the teaching panel, along with Phish Goldblatt and Jim Sens.  I enjoyed it so much, and apparently did a good job, so I was kept on as a teacher, and still teach every year.  I have also taught for the APTPI in Italy, BMXnet in Germany, and LBPac in Mexico.

At this point I'm also doing my own educational seminars.  I'll be doing 3-4 seminars this year, and hope to expand to more in 2017.  That will be aside from teaching at BMXnet and for the UKAPP later this year.

Why is your teaching different then others?

I have a relaxed approach.  I make jokes, curse, speak my mind, encourage attendee commentary and questions.  I want people to not just learn, but enjoy my classes, and have fun.  I also speak directly from my mind, not from a pre written speech.  I find it more natural, and less stuffy. 

What are your specialties? why you love it?

Surface piercing is one.  I have always loved surface piercing, and developed an affinity for it.  I still teach it all these years later, because too many piercers still think that surface piercings are not viable, when they totally can be when done properly, with the right jewelry (surface bars).

Ear projects are the other thing I'm known for.  I have always loved intricate ear piercings, and have been doing them for 18 years now.  It's challenging, and very satisfying when you design a one of a kind project for someone that will only work for them, that can't be copied.  

Can you tell something about Earmageddon 2012?

It was interesting, that's for sure.  There was some tough competition, but at the same time, it was eye opening in other ways.  It actually made me develop a class for complex ear piercings, because some of the stuff I saw submitted perplexed me.  

You have amazing entries from piercers like Rob Hill, whose projects always have nice design aspects and jewelry combos.  And entries from Cale Belford, whose projects are highly technical, difficult to execute, yet executed with insane precision. I seriously printed out one of her entries and measured all the distancing.  Everything was perfect, down to the millimeter.  

Then there were other entries with clear irritations on the piercings and obvious execution issues.  There were entries of clearly healing piercings with jewelry that would be very difficult to deal with in the day to day life of the client.  These are all important aspects for ear projects, in my opinion.  Piercers are only human, of course, but with some of those entries, I was mystified that someone not only let a client walk out with such clear mistakes, but looked at it and thought it was competition worthy.  It actually made me kind of sad.  How good can a project or piercing actually be if it looks great for the first month, then becomes a constant problem for the client, or an irritated mess, because the jewelry sticks out in certain ways, or the jewelry digs into another part of the ear?  This is an issue I see with the industry in general, not just competitions.  

Some will for sure take issue what I've just said, but I've always been blunt and spoken my mind.  I don't walk on eggshells.  

What is your goal?

My goal is to keep piercing for as long as I can, and continue to teach.  Eventually as I age, I know I won't be able to keep piercing, so then I'll transfer over to piercing education.  I for sure have a plan, but let's just say I'm not ready to go into detail just yet on it fully.  

Is there something you are proud of in what you’ve been doing?

I'm proud that I'm still piercing, and that I still enjoy piercing itself.  Many of my peers have quit, retired, or become burnt out.  I feel lucky that I'm still passionate about it.  

Do you have any advice for our readers? 

If you are a client, research your piercers, make sure you go to a reputable piercer that uses high quality jewelry.  Appreciate your piercer.  A good piercer has worked hard to evolve and learn to provide the latest techniques and quality jewelry. Do some research on what you want pierced, educate yourself a little so you know what to expect.  And lastly, treat yourself right.  Don't go for the cheapest, go for the best.  Don't lower your self worth.  If you need to save, save up and get yourself something good.  You're worth it. 

 
If you are a piercer, educate yourself, and keep doing so.  I've been piercing for more than decades and still take classes and learn new things all the time.  Also, know your boundaries and limits and work within them.  Ask for advice from more experienced peers.  Take a day to shadow another piercer and see how they work. 

photo credit to Autumn Swisher

www.bodmod.net

www.nokaoitikitattoo.com

facebook Luis Garcia 

-Text and photos: Luis Garcia
Angie
-Published Tattoo Planet eMagazine 110/June 2016

Luis & me APP2016 Las Vegas