One weekend a year in England, piercers from across the UK and Europe gath er together to share knowledge, discuss business, talk social media and get their hands on some of the world’s best jewellery. This year, we also got to throw axes at Danny DeVito.

The third annual United Kingdom Association of Professional Piercers Conference began on Sunday, 17th of September, with around 110 attendees; quite the growth from our first year, where 35 of us (including speakers and vendors) crammed into the basement of a Birmingham nightclub for one day of  talks and socialising. From this small, but fun event, we grew into our second year, where we moved to a hotel and extended our event to two days of talks, due to the fact that we doubled our attendee numbers. Year three proved even better, not only with us needing to add yet another day of talks, but needing to add   a second classroom as well; our numbers tripling from our first year!

In years past, we’ve been lucky to receive an incredible amount of support from the Association of Professional Piercers and this year was no different. They once again provided us with some of their fantastic speakers; UKAPP regular Ryan Ouellette kicked off day one. He presented his “Tongue Piercings” class, which had already proved a big success at this year’s APP Conference in Las Vegas. The room filled up quickly with people eager to improve their core knowledge, something that we at the UKAPP strive to implement as much as possible at our own conferences.

But he didn’t stop there. Ryan gave another talk later that day, which had the classroom once again packed to capacity: “Septum Piercings, Where Skill Meets Luck.” It’s a common subject within the UK forums, with many piercers getting “The Fear” when a client comes in asking for this particular piercing, so this talk was highly anticipated. We took  a survey from our attendees after the conference and had one attendee stating, “The septums class was a game changer!”

Not to be outdone, we had our second classroom this year acting as a roundtable room, with some of the UK’s best and brightest leading discussions. Speakers included Aiden Johnson (whom some of you may have seen at APP giving his talk on Metals), our fabulous President Nicole Holmes, and a special guest speaker, Sue Hutchinson talking about self care. Sue is the mum of our lovely secretary Kim and a wonderful addition to our speaker team!

For those unfamiliar with a Roundtable, though the talk is lead by selected speakers, it’s a place to openly discuss our ideas, opinions, and offer help to each other through conversation and troubleshooting. Personally, these are some of my favourite types of classes, as they often prove less intimidating to those who may not want to ask a question in an 80 person classroom, but don’t mind so much chatting with 20 or so others in a more casual environment.

As day one came to an end, whilst some were headed to the bar  or  dinner,  around 40 of us were gearing up for a very different event… Axe Throwing! The unofficial after party of UKAPP 2017 was organised by one of our Scottish piercers, Nikki Lloyd-Proctor. She arranged for the venue, Whistle Punks, to open its doors to us on the one day a week they were closed, so we could try our hand at some hatchet throwing. This was also a teetotal event, as we knew there were a good number of non-drinkers who may want to have entertainment other than hanging round a  bar or sitting watching reruns from their hotel room.

“I’ve learned so much, and I felt so welcomed, a part of the UK piercing family! THANK YOU IMMENSELY FOR EVERYTHING!” UKAPP attendee

After a few practise demonstrations and a quick request for some more event appropriate music (pop music and piercers don’t oft go hand in hand) we got to business. This is where poor Danny DeVito comes into play! Brought along for a giggle by lovable Liverpudlian Mick Stocko, the lifesize cardboard cutout didn’t fare too well or for too long after he got hung up for target practise!

Day two was set into full swing with talks from Sala from Pinpoint discussing Surface Anchors. Paul King gave a full update on the FGM laws that are currently affecting the UK piercing scene, a subject with which he has been consulting with many of us on. There was also a welcome return of Dr. Matt Lodder of Colchester University and his new class “Myth of the Modern Primitive.” Matt has been teaching and working around the UK, specialising in tattoo art history and UK body piercing history and has an enthusiastic audience at UKAPP!

Meantime, some of our first time UK speakers took over the roundtable room, including an in depth (and invaluable) class on Social Media from Maree Fowler, Andrew Davenport, and Sebastian Wolfe Pickersgill, and a chat with Dr. Emma Spoor, a regular piercing fan who works closely with President Nicole Holmes.

However our star speaker from day two was so popular, we had to turn people away due to the room filling to capacity before it had even begun! Mike Hill originally thought that his idea would interest a handful of people, but after a gentle nudge and a couple of chats, he agreed to take on the roundtable room with his discussion “A brief introduction to disposable piercing.”

As of yet, working with disposable tools and equipment hasn’t garnered too much attention in the UK, but with the unexpected popularity of this discussion, it could soon be in the cards for a lot of piercers looking to improve their practises. Mike gave a concise and highly informative chat as well as providing goody bags to those who came along (although we all underestimated just how many people wanted to see his talk and getting a goody bag almost became a status symbol.)

Day three came around all too soon, but boy did we go out with a bang. Not only did we have one President, oh no, we had TWO. Former APP President Brian Skellie and current President Jef Saunders both made an enormous effort to join us this year, with Jef travelling directly from the Fakir Intensives in the US to Birmingham UK and teaching within 12 hours of landing. We didn’t let him off with an easy day either, Jef gave a fantastic talk on Nipple Fundamentals in our main classroom. He also co-presenting two more talks in our roundtable room, along with Ryan Ouellette and rising star of the UK scene, Lola Slider from Glasgow, Scotland.

Brian Skellie, as anyone who has ever met him will verify, is more like a vast calm sea of knowledge than a fountain of knowledge. He once again provided us with a fascinating talk on Bevel Theory, in which there’s always something new to be gained from his engrossing explanations. He also provided us with more of his brain power by co-presenting an anodizing class with Lola. It is evident from the influx of anodizing posts on UK forums that this class was a big success.

Lola Slider, as aforementioned, is one to watch in the piercing world, not only for her precision and dedication to quality piercings and jewellery, but the way in which she presented her classes this year. Her natural ability to hold the attention of 30 odd piercers packed into a small room, swarming around her to see her needle bending techniques was something to behold. She held her own amongst industry heavyweights and we cannot wait to see where the future takes her next (and we hope that will be with us again next year at UKAPP 2018!)

“In the short time the UKAPP has been going, it’s taking on a life of its own, we love you all, great job”–UKAPP attendee

We were happy to see even more vendors this year, both homegrown and international! From independent jewellers such as Alice Ruby, Stonewolf, and Danila Tarcinale, to Naga Jewellery, Sacred Symbols and the team from Lovely Lobes and Maya. Special thanks goes out to the amazing gang from Industrial Strength UK, headed by fearless leader Patrick Kielty, who even spent his birthday with us at conference! Paddy has constantly shown support for the UKAPP and has made ISUK a gateway brand for many of  the UK piercers who had not previously had the opportunity to see the jewellery up close and personal. Without the loyalty and love shown to us all from this bunch, UKAPP wouldn’t be the same!

Now, it may be known to some of you that piercers occasionally like a party; well, the UK crowd is certainly no exception! This year we held a Rocky Horror Themed party at the bar of our venue hotel, The Radisson Blu, with fancy dress encouraged! We were not disappointed by the outcome either (you’ve reallynot lived until you’ve seen how great Paul King’s legs are in fishnet stockings.) Although there was no ‘Best Dressed’ award, incredible outfits were worn by Becky Crossan of Inkhaus Tattoo, Peter Monckton (our Vice President!) and the gorgeous bunch from Adorn Art Gallery!

This year was a year of firsts for a number of reasons. Our members grew into double digits! We’ve been accepting Members into the UKAPP for the past year   and have grown from the 6 Board Members, to over   20 current Members (with all but two in attendance     at conference this year!) We’ve already got a few applicants ready for when the Board reopens the application process and we look forward to welcoming more members from the UK and from overseas as well. You can see more details about membership via the ukapp website www.ukapp.org.uk. We  also introduced the Mentor  Program this year, where people could ask to be buddied up with another attendee. As an industry, a large number of us suffer from anxieties in one form or another, often social anxiety, and whilst we do what we can to help ease these anxieties, we thought that attendees may benefit from one-on-one mentoring. We had a separate registration section on our conference floor, a half hour introduction and mingle with our assigned mentors and mentees and a bit of quiet away from the crowds towards the entrance of the floor. It went well and we hope that this is something we can keep going for next year.

It’s been a crazy year. Myself and the other Board Members were thrilled with how it all came together. We want to express our deepest gratitude to the APP for their unwavering support, the volunteer team who helped keep the conference running as smoothly as possible, and to the friends and family of the Board Members who helped keep us cool as cucumbers in the run up to an event which holds a deep and special meaning to us all.