As we look toward the possibilities of the year ahead, we’d like to take the chance to reflect on 2019 as well. Two of the pillars of our commitment to providing safe piercing are continuing education and involvement in the body piercing community. 2019 was our busiest year ever, yet we were still able to achieve a spectacular amount of professional development amongst all members of our team.

Co-owner Laura Jane started 2019 by presenting for the State of Michigan Body Art Educational Expo, hosted by the Michigan Department of Health. Her presentation focused on disposable body art facilities, and improvements in reprocessing. Laura also attended classes and presented two of her own at the Association of Professional Piercers (APP) Conference in Las Vegas. Her classes included instruction of septum piercing (titled “Septums Make Me Sweaty”) and Ear Cartilage piercing (“Advanced Fundamentals: Helix Piercing”). In November, Laura flew to San Francisco and was an instructor at the Fakir Foundation Basic Body Piercing Workshop. Last but not least, this December, Laura graduated from nursing school!

Laura Lecture.png

Jef kept quite busy as well.  In February 2019 Jef taught his “Single-Use Piercing Facilities” class to attendees in Glasgow, Scotland. In March, Jef instructed the Fakir Foundation Basic Body Piercing workshop. Immediately following the Fakir class, Jef flew to Mexico City to teach and attend classes at the LatinoAmerican Body Piercing A.C. (LBP) Conference. There, Jef taught two classes, “Single-Use Piercing Facilities” and “Advanced Fundamentals: Nipple Piercing”. In July, Jef attended the annual APP Conference and presented two classes. “Advanced Fundamentals: Helix Piercing” (with Laura Jane) and “Mentoring, Apprenticeships and How to Inspire the Next Generation of Piercers” (with Victoria Rothman). He was also a docent on the Fakir Musafar Archive tour, put on by the Body Piercing Archive. This was Jef’s presidential outgoing conference, completing his three-year term as president of the Association of Professional Piercers. In October, Jef attended the APP Member’s Retreat and presented a class on developing perspective and avoiding narrow-mindedness as a piercer. In November, Jef attended the American Public Health Association exposition on behalf of the APP to help public health officials find resources for safe piercing. Finally, in December Jef spoke on the public record about the new proposed Michigan Body Art rules in Lansing.

Jef Camp Promo

Senior Jewelry Specialist, Kaylee, began her piercing apprenticeship this year by attending the Fakir Foundation Basic Body Piercing workshop in San Francisco. Kaylee’s attendance of this class continues the Gamma Piercing tradition of beginning apprenticeships with the Fakir Basic Piercing workshop and developing skills under the mentorship of experienced Fakir class attendees. This gives mentor and apprentice a common language and philosophy to build upon

Kaylee and Ken

Our piercer Amanda focused primarily on expanding her piercing repertoire, but still found time to edit and contribute to all of Jef’s classes. She also helped develop Gamma’s public comments about the new Michigan Body Art Rules. Amanda was a volunteer for the Association of Professional Piercers, assisting Volunteer Coordinator Julie Taylor in developing better systems to utilize the talented folks in the APP to execute the mission of providing safe piercing information to all who need it. Amanda and our entire team also attended a private lecture by our guest piercer Becky Dill about providing superb customer service and expanding our jewelry knowledge.

Amanda's triple

Undoubtedly, 2019 was incredibly busy for our entire Gamma Piercing team. We believe that this level of involvement is mission critical to providing our customers with the best experiences possible. It’s not just the information learned in the dozens of classes attended and provided all over the world; it’s the insights exchanged between colleagues over cups of coffee and in the lobbies walking from class to class. Our commitment to our customers involves an unrivaled pursuit of new information, better quality jewelry, safer systems and practices and of course, a love of piercing and learning.

Our classes and teaching schedules are already starting to fill up for 2020! We can’t wait to grow and improve throughout the year ahead! Thank you to our wonderful clientele for supporting us and making it all possible.