Category Awards & Recognition

Creative Innovator Award 2023 Queen Of The Ashes

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Queen of the Ashes award winning design “Kwaidan.” Picture by @connorfornow


At this year’s APP Conference, Queen of the Ashes won the Creative Innovators Award for their design “Kwaidan.” We had the opportunity to talk to Hika K, the owner of Queen of the Ashes, to discuss her award winning design and her company.

The Point Blog: Congratulations on your Innovative Award win, Hika! Your company, Queen of the Ashes, has been gaining a lot of popularity lately and your newest earring design was a hit at this years APP Conference. We also saw quite a few folks wearing other pieces from your company during this year’s Conference. How are you feeling?

Queen of the Ashes: Thank you so much! Honestly, I am still quite overwhelmed. Last years APP Conference went already well, but this years positive feedback, especially after winning the Innovators Award, still feels quite surreal. I am incredibly happy that people love my designs and it still makes me giddy every time I see somebody wearing my jewelry.

The Point Blog: Tell us more about your company and when you started designing such interesting pieces.

Queen of the Ashes: I started Queen of the Ashes in 2019, but the first design – The Scavenger Queen – had been on my mind since 2016, as well as a few other pieces. I found it quite hard to find any reputable jewelry company making ear weights representing my more crust-punky taste. The main push I needed was my significant other convincing me to just dive in and bring the punk aesthetics back into the piercing industry.

The Point Blog: Have you had to face many challenges in the industry with your new company right before the pandemic? Did you face other challenges being based in Germany?

Queen of the Ashes: Somewhat yes, somewhat no. I would say, the greatest challenge was starting off right before Covid hit and the world slowed down, so our customer base could not grow as fast as I would have wished. On the other hand, this gave me the opportunity to slow down and carefully perfect the designs I had in my mind. Of course, being located in Europe has been tricky, especially when travel was not an option, which made it impossible to show off my designs besides when being at a guest piercing guest spot; most German studios would not invest in a small, nearly unknown German brand for ear weights, as the top studios we have usually tend to rather invest into gold. And even after the world opened again, having a booth at APP for the first time was probably far more organizational work than it would be for a company from the States or from Canada. But of course I can’t compare how things would have been if I would have started my company in another country.

The Point Blog: Do you find your pieces to be more popular at home than in other parts of the world?

Queen of the Ashes: I definitely noticed that my designs tend to fare better on the US market, not only when it comes to wholesale clients, but also when it comes to orders on the retail side. This seems to be usual with ear weights in general though, as I hear often that ear weights don’t move much in German studios for example – so the pieces my wholesale customers prefer in Germany are those for traditional earrings.

The Point Blog: We’ve noticed that many of your pieces are limited and those limited pieces seem to be in high demand! Do you plan on continuing to keep things exclusive?

Queen of the Ashes: Yes, definitely! I love the idea of exclusivity and the collectability of jewelry, but since I prefer to keep an accessible price point I decided on achieving the first point through the limitation of designs. While I regularly make limited designs like the Hunters and the Aliens, with the former being sold out since this year’s APP Conference, I plan on keeping the amount of designs I offer small, so some pieces from the first year will eventually have to go too. At the same time we have a few one off pieces, as most of the stone combinations for the Feral Children for example will not be repeated.

The Point Blog: Tell us a bit about what gave you the idea to create your winning design.

Queen of the Ashes: I am honestly not sure. I had a loose idea of this design already 10 years ago, but I am pretty sure that the main inspiration had been the J-Horror-Movies I watched as a young teenager, as well as many other Japanese ghost stories I read over the years (and still am reading). I remember staying in a house in Japan years back, and on the ceiling of the closet a board was slid open so we got a glimpse into the attic. I couldn’t shake the idea of waking up in the night and the moonlight shining in, to illuminate hair hanging down through this opening. As I said, watching too many of those movies, and then that image lead to hair hanging on earrings. And of course traditional tatami flooring belonged into every Japanese ghost story in my eyes, which is why I chose that pattern for the brass part of our “Kwaidan” ear weights.

“Kwaidan” designed by Queen of the Ashes. Picture by @connorfornow


The Point Blog: Who knew that one moment in time would inspire the creation such a beautiful earring design! Do you feel that how you find inspiration for your pieces is what separates Queen of the Ashes from other competitors who may be offering comparable designs?

Queen of the Ashes: I would say the main difference would be that many of my designs are quite niche, with many of them being wearable art than designs which fit into a wider audience. I consider Queen of the Ashes my playground, so I don’t always think about what may be selling in big quantities but rather what I think may be cool. I don’t think of other jewelry designers as competitors though; I rather consider us all as fellow artists, many of whom I look up to and whose work I adore.

The Point Blog: Where else does your inspiration come from? Who inspires you?

Queen of the Ashes: I sometimes wonder that myself. Many of my ideas just visualize in front of me, as I tend to think in pictures. So some pieces just seem to have existed in me; some are homages to literature or movies which I love. Some pieces have been requested by customers, with me mainly giving them the shape to make the idea wearable. There is also a small handful of designs either developed by friends or my significant other which are even more fun to work with than the ones I develop alone, since we all share the creative input, we are sticking our heads together to perfect those ones.

The Point Blog: What can we expect to see next from Queen of the Ashes?

Queen of the Ashes: First of all, a new website bringing together the retail and wholesale shop with an easier user surface that hopefully we will launch in late autumn or winter. There are also a lot of new designs in production, most of them going more into the direction of mythology, obviously many more pieces with popcultural references, but, what I am mostly excited for, are new alternatives for wearing surfaces to combine with hanging designs. Similar to our Ties that Bind, I am playing around with fun new ways for my customers to make their own individual jewelry combinations.

Find Queen of the Ashes online!
Website: http://queenoftheashesjewelry.de
Instagram: @queenoftheashes_jewelry
Email: queenofashesjewelry@gmail.com

Hika, owner of Queen of the Ashes

Innovator Award 2023 Regalia Jewelry

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Regalia’s Innovative Award winning design “Pin Crimp.”

At this year’s APP Conference, Regalia won the Innovator’s Award for their “Pin Crimp” design. We were fortunate enough to have a chat with the owner of Regalia, Derrick Edward R. and asked him about his latest invention and his beginnings in the industry.

The Point: Congratulations on your win in the Innovators Award. You also won the Best Single Booth award at the APP Conference this year. You all must be very excited!

Regalia: Thank you! It was a bit of a surprise when I got a text message saying we won both awards (we didn’t attend the closing party). To be honest, I think we should have won the best booth award last year; Some people might remember the reliquary that the Regalia crew spent weeks working on with “Sadima” the mummy empress. It was a bit of an upset, so this year, we’d intentionally planned a much simpler approach and wanted to focus on sales and operation. We all kind of joked to ourselves because we thought we were thrown a bone this year because whoever felt bad we didn’t win last year. In any case, it feels good to have hard work acknowledged.

The Point: What inspired you to create this concept and how does it set itself apart from similar concepts?

Regalia: We’d always had the thought of, “Ya know it’d be really cool if there was a specific tool that bent our threadless pins in a way that didn’t sacrifice the integrity of the pin itself so there would be less breakage” Then that turned into… “Imagine if we could get customers to be able to change their jewelry out on their own so they can focus on building their jewelry wardrobe without having to wait in line at their local piercing studio just to get something changed out.”

When the pandemic happened, it became, “All these people with threadless jewelry sitting at home that can’t go into their local piercings studios.” During normal times, we can definitely appreciate the human to human interaction and experience of going into a piercing studio to ogle and jewelry, purchase, and have it put in… But we also have found value in turning the ‘necessity’ of piercer assistance vs. ‘convenience’ of piercer assistance when it comes to having jewelry changed out. While we always recommend clients visit their piercers to make sure their piercings have healed correctly and are healthy, there’s something to be said about giving the power and confidence to the client to work with their own accessories. It also helps facilitate the move toward eCommerce as studios become more open to selling threadless jewelry in their online stores.

The design itself is meant to provide a consistent and desired result. We understood that the pliers could be used by an extremely WIDE range of people, whether piercers or “end-wearers” as we like to call them. The brilliance of our first prototype was that no matter how hard you squeezed the pliers, they would bend the pin in same exact way, the same exact amount. There’s only one other pair of pliers that are currently sold as dedicated threadless pin pliers, but we haven’t seen too much success in our industry with the use of them. Ultimately our goal is to make them so easy to use, that they become a no-brainer in needing to have them if preserving threadless jewelry is important! Many people have used other pliers in non-intended ways to bend pins with success, but we want people not to have to figure anything out. We’ll do that for you. ;D

The Point: We think this design is really neat! Is this tool a one-off creation or do you have plans to create more tools in the future?

Regalia: That’s a really good question. I suppose it depends on the success of this tool. I imagine that there will different versions of the final product of our Pin Crimp. Anyone else have any ideas?

The Point: Regalia has been around for some time and is widely known as a body jewelry company. Tell us more about yourself and the history of your company.

Regalia: Haa! I actually started out as a replacement counter-hire. This was in 2014 and at the time I was working in management at a large cosmetics company. No experience in jewelry whatsoever, other than wearing it, of course. One of my regular customers was Lysa Taylor, who at the time was the main piercer at Industrial Tattoo & Piercing in Berkeley. At this point, I’d already gone up and down and plateaued in the company I was with, so one day when Lysa came in to stock up on some facial moisturizer, I said, “Hey, you guy hiring over there?”… I suppose the timing of everything worked out. I am and have always believed that things happen for a reason. To make a long story short… I went from the top of the totem pole at this corporate company to scrubbing toilets, taking out the garbage, and cleaning up after bums outside of this piercing studio off of Dwight and Telegraph in Berkeley. Albeit, one that I’d frequented for years. I’d learned a lot about the industry in those first couple of years. Safe practices, jewelry types, sizes, materials. It was a HUGE growing point for everyone and everything and the studio and the industry in general. Social media wasn’t even a thing, yet. Nobody was taking good photos of jewelry and regularly posting to platforms like Instagram. Shortly after starting, I took over their social media and started experimenting with composition of how to post jewelry to look good and fun. I became fascinated with how light bounced off certain facets and textures of some of the designs. Having a knack for picking up and learning computer software, it wasn’t long before I’d downloaded CAD freeware to begin playing with 3D shapes and realizing my own designs.

One of the biggest bottle necks in A to Z shop operation was the amount of time it took to get jewelry from our manufacturers. We were selling jewelry faster than we could get it in our displays. I told Todd, co-owner of Industrial Tattoo & Piercing, “Dude, why don’t we just MAKE OUR OWN JEWELRY”… So we did. And literally, not knowing anything about production or manufacturing, we knew what we needed for our clients, we knew we wanted to work with gold, and we knew we had the energy to figure out the rest. I incorporated in 2015, and it’s been a huge creative endeavor since then. And definitely the most challenging experience of my life. I’ve worked alongside very talented and industrious people in this industry and have done my best to absorb as much as I possibly can. When people say they put their blood, sweat, and tears into something… I quite literally know exactly what that means. I tell people all the time that the main reason why I started Regalia was because I just wanted to make things… What people don’t see or understand is just how difficult it is to start, run, and maintain a gold body jewelry company that doesn’t outsource production to other countries, in the state of California. Proud to say we’re about 99.9% in-house production at the cost of sleepless nights and sound mind. I’ve gotta say, it does make it worth it when people see, appreciate, and share those values with others and go on to wear our designs.

Pin Crimp tool by Regalia Jewelry.

The Point: Regalia has some very interesting and unique pieces. How do you stay ahead of the game when there are so many similar types of companies?

Regalia: I’ve heard we’ve got a distinct ‘look’ from some of our clients. This is a fun compliment for us, for sure. In my mind, staying “ahead” of the game is a little bit of a trap. It’s a type of hamster wheel that we’ve got one foot on and one foot off. Something that I think Regalia has started to achieve, kind of accidentally, is creating a type of new-classic? If I could say that as cliche as it sounds. When I design something, part of me is concerned that it’ll look cheap or that it may in the future “look like its trying too hard”. Timelessness, in my opinion, is hugely important and probably comes from my own rebellion against a system that feeds off of “Oooh whats the next new thing?”, but how do you create something or a brand that isn’t typecast into someone else’s trash box? I actually think about this a lot and realize I’m overthinking it, I shake it off, and just keep moving forward. What you see in our production line is the result of that thought process. Another thing that I consider is what something will look like at different distances and how different textures break up and distribute light. Many designs don’t translate that well depending on where the observer is observing from. Many don’t know realize this, but the designs we have for sale are literally JUST A FRACTION of the designs that most of which haven’t made it to our production line. I have folders and folders and folders of literally hundreds of design files that are unfinished, or have been finished, but that never made it to cast. 

And while yes, there are a lot of smaller gold body jewelry companies popping up every single year, a part of me naturally experiences concern, but then I remember how we started, our principles, how we make things, where we make them, and why we make them comprises the unique fingerprint that is Regalia. Design-led jewelry purchasing is a big hook, but people need to know that they aren’t just buying something that shines a specific way. They’re buying a brand, they’re buying our crew, and they’re buying our values. When I talk about Regalia I notice that I get very passionate about these things as I believe it’s up to us as manufacturers to enrich our industry and educate our clients and their clients to retain the values of what they adorn themselves with. And while it’s very possible to get washed up in these fickle trends, I’ve never wanted for Regalia to outgrow our principles; This has proven to be one of our biggest challenges, but one that is at the core of who we are. These other companies will experience their own hardships like we have and still do and if they’re still around after all is said and done, and they’ve added value to the industry instead of just profited off of it, what more can be said than, “Welcome to the players circle”. I still feel like we’re outsiders achieving our stripes. Not sure if or when that feeling will ever go away, but whenever I see a beautiful photo taken of someone wearing our jewelry in a different part of the world, those stripes feel tiny.

The Point: Where does your inspiration come from when creating your designs? Is there someone or something that inspires you?

Regalia: My inspirations come from really everywhere… pictures, paintings, architecture, the occasional *cough* video game, nature, and of course suggestions from the Regalia crew and colleagues in or out of the industry… there have even been times that the NAME of the design inspired and came before the finished piece. Imagine that. Philosophy is also a huge inspiration to me. There have been moments where the meaning of words have inspired the look of certain designs. There’s literally no shortage of inspiration or creative energy that can be found in this industry, so a bigger challenge is finding the time to dedicate to bring things to fruition. As far as WHO inspires me? The industrious inspires me. There isn’t even one specific person, but more so the TYPE of person that inspires me is the ‘doer’. Anyone can have the next brilliant idea. Those are all a dime a dozen. The type of person that inspires me is the person that can execute their idea and see it through to its completion with intentional focus and vigor. Focus and dedication are two qualities that I consistently find in the people that I’m inspired by. These kinds of people are rare. I’m sure if you’re reading this, you can think of someone in your life that is like this. Keep them close, learn from them, and if you want to help those around you, BE THAT PERSON.

The Point: Do you have any fresh ideas that we might see around the innovators booth at next year’s APP conference?

Regalia: Currently, I’m focused on getting our Pin Crimp re-designed and manufactured. That said, we might try for the creative innovator’s award if that’s being run again. We’ve got some designs up our sleeves.

The Point: Do you have any other plans for the future? What can we expect to see from Regalia next?

Regalia: We do have plans of more limited drops and one-off designs. So keep an eye open for those!

Find Regalia Jewelry on the web!
Website: https://regalia.jewelry/
Instagram: @regalia.jewelry

Point 89: POC Scholarship Update

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Keiana “Kookie” Lynn

With the support of 64 community members, we raised $4,555.53 to give 7 piercers the opportunity to attend the Association of Professional Piercers Conference. Eduardo Chavarria, Miro Hernandez, and myself are proud to support with continued education, along their piercing journeys.

  • Aaron May
  • Angie Ortiz
  • Anthony Lewis
  • Deron Carter
  • Frances Sesay
  • Jose Zuniga
  • Kay Warren

With the rise of COVID-19 and the cancellation of the upcoming Association of Professional Piercers Conference, we intend to continue supporting recipients by honoring 2020 scholarships in 2021. Conference admission tickets will remain booked, while rooms and flights will be re-booked, when possible. In the event that a recipient is no longer piercing in 2021, their resources will be forfeited to the next qualifying applicant.

For further questions or concerns, please email KonnichiwaKookie@gmail.com.

Point 88: Technical Innovator Award

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Gorilla Glass “Cells” Collection

Interview by Kristina Outland

There is beauty in the complexities of nature. Gorilla Glass has done an incredible job capturing those complexities in their limited edition 2019 collection entitled “Cells”, winner of this year’s Technical Innovator Award.With this design, Gorilla Glass celebrates the building blocks of life; the creation of their jewelry is even environmentally friendly.

“The process used to make this collection involves up-cycling our waste glass to create a high quality, limited edition jewelry line. Reducing our impact on the environment is a major concern for Gorilla Glass, and the new techniques that we are developing are showcased in the ‘Cells’ collection. The ‘Cells’ line is a way to acknowledge and celebrate life on the most basic level,” Jason Pfohl, owner of Gorilla Glass, remarked.

Jason went into an in-depth description of the creation process, and it is incredibly fascinating. “The concept always comes first. In this scenario I wanted the technical innovations that we are developing at Gorilla Glass to be reflected in the design and theme of the collection as well, so the design is married to the up-cycling process. The ‘Cells’ collection is a contemporary version of a very ancient technique that the Venetians perfected, called murrini. The core elements of these pieces are made through a pattern bar technique, where stacks of different strips of colored glass are grouped together somewhat randomly and fused into blocks in a specialized fusing oven. You never see or touch the glass after it is shut in the oven. The result depends on the viscosity of each color, and how gravity manipulates the stacks. Afterwards, the pattern bars are picked up on a steel rod (punti) and dipped in a crucible full of molten recycled glass, creating an even layer of color around the bar. Using gravity, the encapsulated pattern bar is stretched into a long rod using heat as well. Later, the rod is cut into sections and reassembled in a mosaic pattern. The mosaic design is fused again and then cut up, ground, carved, and polished into the final forms. It is a very labor intensive process.”

The process of up-cycling even helped determine the color scheme for this beautiful line.

 The designs include understated off-white tones, with an intense black for contrast. Jason mentioned the hidden transparent blue pictured, can only be seen when the pieces are backlit.

“I enjoy when the colors shift and are revealed, creating a surprise discovery for the viewer. The colors were also chosen from stockpiles of waste glass.”

Twelve different specialized artisans have their hand in this process, and usually work in teams. Jason is personally involved in the hot working of all the murrini up-cycling designs. He mentioned he definitely enjoys being a part of the production process.

“I remember in high school looking at slides through the microscope.  There  was  an amazing feeling of discovery looking at these incredibly beautiful alien and hidden worlds surrounding us and inside us. Cells are the building blocks of life, creating the basic structure, functional, and biological units of all known life. The word ‘cells’ come the the Latin ‘cella’ meaning ‘small room’. Every element in the ‘Cells’ designs are encapsulated in one or two layers of up-cycled glass, creating random geometrical designs in the finished jewelry. I do not try to control the designs, but allow the glass to find its own patterns. The artwork of the German zoologist Ernst Haeckel was also an inspiration for this collection. Haeckel documented thousands of new species as a marine biologist, including many microscopic organisms. His book Art Forms in Nature, has been a big influence for me over the years. What I love about the cells theme is that on the microscopic level everything becomes disembodied and abstract.”

In summary, much time, consideration, curation, and research has gone into this line, making this an award-winning experience jewelry fanatics can wear and enjoy.

“I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of my team at GG. I would also like to thank all our great customers and the body modification community at-large, for their long and ongoing support that made this innovation possible. Thank you!”

Point 88: Creative Innovator Award

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Onetribe’s “Crystal Castle” Displays

Interview by Marina Pecorino

Onetribe’s award winning “Crystal Castle” display.
Jewelry by Alan Dumond of Origins Handmade

For the second year in a row, Jared Karnes of Onetribe took home the Creative Innovator Award. Last year it was the multidimensional “Topo” ear weight design. This year, the prize-winning pieces were the “Crystal Castle” displays. I, once again, had the honor of interviewing Jared about running a production queue based business in the piercing industry, and expanding horizons into working with a broader range of materials.

Marina Pecorino: In last year’s interview, you explained the metamorphosis your business made from having numerous employees across several continents, to a small, homebased, personal endeavor. Usually you hear of business models moving in the opposite direction. Can you tell us more about your vision for the future of Onetribe?

Jared Karnes: It’s been a wild ride. It’s easy to find a roadmap for growth, and I became accustomed to thinking about my business as something that  should  continuously  grow.  It was much more challenging to take a step back and decide to be dramatically smaller. Going forward, I’m very interested in play, agility, and unpredictability. I want to spend more time making because I love to do it and not because of a production queue. My sketchbooks need liberation! I will never stop making body jewelry, but I am less interested in being perceived as just a body jewelry company. I have been making a serious effort to explore new forms and use materials in new ways. Ceramic has been an exciting diversion and something I intend to spend a lot more time doing.

MP: I’ve been watching the development of the Crystal Castle displays on social media, and it has been fascinating. Can you explain the development process?

JK: I have always had a fascination with crystalline shapes. The unique facets of quartz crystals and the stacking of perfect pyrite cubes captivate me, but I found myself wondering what these shapes would look like in beautiful colors and textures. I wanted to see these shapes in coral, periwinkle, or sparkly matte black.

There’s been an explosion of body jewelry display options, and I have loved many of the unique shapes from display specific companies, but the use of wood does not inspire me. I thought ceramic would be a great challenge, and it can fit well with a high-end aesthetic for displaying precious metals and stones. Also, a bunch of my friends are making outrageously good ends and hinged rings, and I thought it would be rad to give that work a stage.

I started working with clay in January as a way to let my  hands and mind wander with a forgiving material and meditative process. After hand-making solid prototypes of crystal forms, I realized they were far too heavy to have around glass display cases. I decided to learn slip casting, which uses plaster molds and liquid clay “slip” to cast thin walled hollow objects. After teaching myself mold making and slip casting, I was able to finalize a process and select (or in some cases custom grind) quartz crystals in suitable shapes for single Cryst displays. The larger Crystal Castles are then hand built by modifying and attaching single cast crystals into a more massive structure which I fire as one piece.

MP: Has the result diverged from your original vision at all? What joys and challenges did you face along the way?

JK: They have manifested true to my original intent primarily because I used the crystals as a tool to learn ceramic processes. Early on in the project, I created a specific goal for the product that would require me to learn specific methods in order. It was a challenge to develop a product and processes in a new medium in a little over 90 days, but I enjoyed going for it. Watching something that was soft clay and gloppy liquid glaze transform into stone coated in a layer of glass is mind-boggling.

One of the hardest problems to solve was how to handle the bottoms of both the single Cryst and the Castles. I made several two and three-piece plaster molds that cast pieces with a solid base and a hole in the center. These were faster to cast and clean up, but the molds are more time consuming and fragile. This option also created more waste while building the Castles, limited my access to the interior for installing hardware, and prevented me from being able to adjust the angle of view. I went back to one piece open molds for most shapes and created a “pool” mold for casting a bottom onto each piece. With this additional step of adding the bottom last, I can trim the walls of a display and reduce the height or allow it to lean back for a better viewing angle in different kinds of display cases.

MP: How have you felt about working with these new mediums? What similarities and differences have you discovered that you didn’t expect?

JK: Clay is AMAZING. I never worked it in high school or art school, but it has long been an interest. I recently dug up some notes from a meeting with my employees in 2008; we were discussing options for ceramic in our industry. I started carving and polishing fired porcelain like a stone around 2012, but did not touch soft clay until this year. The profound differences in process and feel changed how I think about materials. Stone carving is both literally and figuratively abrasive. The hands take a lot of abuse, and the process is very loud. Clay is soft and nearly silent. It yields to the touch in a wet state, it maintains a memory of each contact with tool or hand, and it carves easily in a dry state. Through the process of introducing heat, it becomes a hard stone, made from the same essential elements as the stones I carve every day. Once I realized that working ceramic encompasses both this new soft character and the hard nature of the rocks I already work, I was hooked in a way that I did not expect.

MP: Do you have a favorite memory or story to share about this year’s Conference?

JK: My best memories from this year were the result of an unfortunate travel clustercuss. The airline canceled several of my flights, and my booth bag was incorrectly routed. I showed up to the Expo floor in Vegas with no jewelry or booth materials. Many people reached out to me to offer help or to check in and see how I was doing. I felt like I had a big community rooting for me, and that was wonderful. My bag eventually showed up, and all was well.

MP: Every time I walked by your booth this year, you had a small crowd. How has your vendor experience changed over time and in the new space?

JK: My first few years vending I was concerned about bringing a certain amount of product and meeting sales goals that I had set. My outlook overall has shifted, and my conference attendance is now far more rooted in teaching and learning. I am there to make money and create more opportunities for myself, but while doing that I want to see the evolution of our industry, build up newcomers, feel like I am part of a community, and be transparent about what I do and how I do it. Especially now that I am one person in a tiny workshop, the conference experience helps me feel connected to my customers and other makers in a way that the internet cannot replicate.

The new location made everything a little more tense than usual, but I liked it. The Expo floor worked well, and I think most enjoyed the location of the classes, Expo, and rooms relative to each other.

MP: If studios or individuals want to contact you about Onetribe products, what is the best way to reach you? Is there a current average turn-around time that can be expected, or does it vary from project to project?

JK: The shop is always open at onetribe.net and I can be reached directly via the contact form there. I am most active on Instagram and post daily production process and material eye candy @onetribejewelry.

Turn-around times vary wildly on a per-project basis. Products ordered on my site usually ship within 10-14 business days. Custom jewelry work is on average three to four weeks, with complex projects taking longer. Stocked displays ship within a few days, while custom display sets and Crystal Castles depend on all of the other workloads, but are worth the wait.

MP: Is there anything else you’d like to share with The Point readership?

JK: I was delighted to see so many young companies showing great work at Conference this year. While there are some pervasive style trends, I have seen quality from a lot of people who deserve the opportunity to show us how far they can go. I encourage everyone to support small makers whenever possible. This diversity of ideas and the growing culture of positivity over pettiness are hella exciting to see.

Point 88: Volunteers, Thank You

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by Jacob Spjut

Pre-Conference Volunteer Meeting
Photo by Darrin Walters, courtesy of Paul Rainer

Every year The Point publishes a thank you letter from Caitlin McDiarmid after the annual APP Conference. This is a wonderful opportunity to express through writing, and with a readership that may not have attended that year, or ever, appreciation from an individual in a leadership position. Caitlin does wonders to remind her “ducklings” that their contribution is noticed and has an impact. This year, though, we are trying something different.

I was very fortunate to be asked to write a thank you letter to the volunteers this year. Most volunteers are aware, but for those who do not know, I, during my first year as a volunteer in 2013, created the tradition of the “bus stop speech.” So, being able to compose a piece of writing that illuminates the thanks that I feel to those who work so hard is humbling.

The dedication of those involved with helping to create the APP Conference every year is astounding. It would not be mischaracterizing to say that the contribution made by every volunteer, every year, helps to continue the single greatest educational and social event our industry has ever had. While there are great opportunities for piercers to join together in the name of education at events all over the world, the event held every year in Las Vegas is paramount to the future of our industry.

Why is it important to have this image of grandiosity in one’s mind when reading a thank you letter? Because this grand event—and I mean to use that word, grand, in its full power— would not, and could not, exist if not for the volunteers that place their time, energy, resources, and soul into bringing it to life. It is easy for a lot of these volunteers to disappear from what is seen when an attendee is at Conference, as they are almost always on the run to their next task, but their contribution must be noted. The volunteer family, which   I am honored to have a part in, truly creates something otherworldly.

Volunteers at the closing party
Photo by Autumn Swisher

But, though we have a great number of volunteers who, over the last number of years, have ascended themselves to become great leaders in our group, the very foundation is built squarely upon the shoulders of the tiniest giant, Caitlin. To say so is not to dismiss the tremendous amount of work put in by so many other people every year, but, as a group, we are guided almost exclusively by Caitlin. This is what I am here to give thanks for.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry once remarked that if you want to build a ship you must not just gather men to collect wood, divide the work, and give orders. One must instead teach those building to yearn for the endless sea. A great leader creates a community that is driven to greatness by establishing a common goal and aspiration. In a time when a word like “leader” is greatly diluted to mean any number of qualities required by an individual working together with others, finding the  exceptional qualities in an individual that represents something bordering on ethereal must be undertaken. It is not so difficult with Caitlin.

When a volunteer becomes tired, yearns for home, and is overexposed to the infinite possibilities presented at Conference, they seek the guidance of such a leader as Caitlin. We seek solace in Caitlin’s empathy and are rejuvenated by her desire to see us succeed. She drives any individual to work towards what they, deep inside, feel is right and worth accomplishing. This is most apparent in her approach to the Al D. Scholars that grace our group every year with new skills and with new eyes.

It is almost a cliche to say that coming on as a Scholar creates a great deal of internal turmoil that makes the very act of walking into the hotel the first day feel burdensome. When that level of apprehension poisons the well of one’s experience before it even begins, it takes an exceptional personality to bring that individual back above water and into a space that helps to build them up again.

Pre-Conference Volunteer breakfast at Bouchon of The Venetian

In the atmosphere Caitlin has cultivated, many have risen to make real change outside of their specific Conference duties, as well. Some are elected to be APP Board Members. Others become teachers. A few have even found work in studios they had once viewed as unattainable.

Caitlin, who is the first to interact with all new volunteers, welcomes all that want to progress the group and industry forward. In her kindness we find acceptance. In her diligence we find strength. We look to her because she not only gets us to love the endless sea, she paradoxically tames it for us while also allowing us to ride its tumultuous waves. This helps create, in those that allow it to be created, an antifragility, to use a term from Nassim Nicholas Taleb. We find we can accomplish anything, thanks to the strength we garner from her.

To many who attend Conference she is a recognizable name; a quiet speech giver at the closing party; a name at the bottom of an email from the APP. To us, her volunteer family, she is Mama Duck, and I do not think I am out of line to speak for every volunteer in expressing our gratitude for her presence and guidance. Thank you, Caitlin.

Point 84: Technical Innovator Award: Auris Jewellery

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by Kendra Jane B., The Point Co-Editor

Auris Jewelry was a first time vendor on this year exposition floor and as a new Gold company from Russia, it was great to see that they had entered the Magdustrial for an innovators award. What is even better as first time attendees and entrant is winning the technical award for this year.

Kendra Jane B: Can you introduce yourself and tell us what brought you to APP this year?

Auris Jewelry: Auris Jewelry’s core is three people. Myself and Vlad-1 are the owners of St Scalpelburg Piercing Boutique, with the intention of creating a new piercing jewelry line for its customers, and Vlad-2, who is a jeweler and owns a goldsmith manufacturer. Together we want to make this world more shiny. Where to start if not APP, the world’s biggest and best.

KJB: How long has Auris been a jewelry company?

AJ: We started looking for a jeweler to make our designs in 2014. We found Vlad-2 in 2015, so we can say we’ve done piercing since that time. But series models only started in 2016.

KJB: What was it like breaking into the gold market in Russia? Tell us about your company.

AJ: Besides the Advanced Journal of Surgical Pathology (AJSP), there is nothing high end in Russia. Only cheap gold designs from the ‘90s which are externally threaded, wrongly sized, and not even nickel free. Since 2013 St Scalpelburg has offered Russian people jewelry from BVLA, but long wait times and higher price points were very difficult in our market. We decided to build our own brand which can fulfill our customers’ demands in about one month and it works. As you can see, not only for our shop customers, but for other shops all over the world!

KJB: Why is it so important for piercers in your area to have access to high end jewelry?

AJ: Well, besides safety and quality, selling good jewelry is crucial for our industry. The more money we make, the more money we spend on advertising our professional industry ideas, and the bigger educational conferences we can hold, etc.

KJB: What inspired you to create the Magdustrial?

AJ: Well, the idea belongs to Vlad-2, our jeweler. He says that when you are focused on a specific area, you try to project onto this field everything  you  encounter—whether   those are rocks from a specific place or technological newcomings. One day Vlad got his hands on a pair of neodymium magnets, they were small enough to be feasible for applying to piercing and strong enough to keep tension. Some time after, he discussed the idea with Vlad-1 and me. We decided that it might be an  interesting idea to upgrade our existing chaindustrial with magnets instead of separate chains. The idea was so fresh and fascinating, so we started working on the design. You’ve all seen what it became!

 KJB: Tell us about the process of creating this piece?

AJ: It was pretty much the same as any other piece. Interactions, one by one, until we found a design suitable for magnets and it looked bright enough.

KJB: What are your future plans for your company?

AJ: Ohoho, there are tons! We’ve got a number of ideas for new jewelry styles we want to introduce to the public. We want to cover all countries where people work with high end, so we are pretty much on the road all this year.

Of course, we are quite a young company now, so we are establishing business processes first. But the biggest dream is to move all the manufacturing, employees, and facilities to a nice warm place like Thailand or Bali.

KJB: What is the piercing industry like in Russia compared to North America or European markets?

AJ: It is only just starting to grow. We have only 10–15 shops ordering high end titanium on a regular basis at the moment. The  general  public is still not ready to pay that much for a piercing; although we did a huge educational job by mass-advertising with St Scalpelburg the past five years and now people are starting to  believe that they can sell high end  jewelry  and  earn money from it.

I would say it is pretty similar to South America at the moment, but we are growing fast.

KJB: Can you tell us a bit about your involvement with the RuAPP and the conference you just had?

AJ: Of course! Auris Jewelry, along with Industrial Strength Russia, became corporate and administrative sponsors of the first and second RuAPP conference in Moscow. The first was held in January, second in August and this time we involved foreign speakers and attendees. Thanks a lot to APP who generously sponsored Brian Skellie and Cody Vaughn coming to RuAPP! The conference had 105 attendees which shows us that piercers in Russia are eager to learn and make Russian piercing all it can be!

Regarding involvement, RuAPP, Auris Jewelry, St Scalpelburg and the Russian piercing industry in general are mixed into one because we (Vlad Bodmodov and I) are doing all these activities at the same time.

KJB: Can we hope to see you next year?

AJ: You kidding? We would love to be there again! Next time we will be better prepared.

KJB: What is one piece of advice you would have for aspiring jewelry makers?

AJ: I’ve got a little bit different type of answer for that. After APP and RuAPP we went to Brazilian GEP where we met RARO jewelry who had their debut at the Conference. Lukas, their designer, told us that our jewelry along with Charly Pastrana’s Sacred Symbols, has become an inspiration for them.

I was so happy to know that we inspired those people to create a neat product! For me, inspiring people is one of the best things in the world.

Therefore, if I wanted to give advice to people who want to make jewelry themselves… well, do what you want to wear for yourself and don’t copy. When it comes from your heart you can easily see the difference. That’s why I love what Charly from Sacred Symbols does. The rest just takes time.

Hope to see you soon at Conferences all over the world and have you in the Auris Legion one day. Together we can wipe styleless jewelry from this world.

Point 84: Creative Innovator Award: Onetribe’s “Topo” Design

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by Marina Pecorino, The Point co-editor

Kaitlin Raison from Scarab Body Arts.
Photo by John Joyce.

Jared Karnes of Onetribe took home this year’s Creative Innovator Award for his “Topo” design ear weights. I had the pleasure of interviewing him about his customer-centric business model, love of metallurgy and gemology, and the design to manufacturing process.

Marina Pecorino: Tell us a little about the history and philosophy of Onetribe.

Jared Karnes: I started Onetribe at the end of 2002 after realizing there was an open niche for a retail store with a well organized, user-friendly website and jewelry more unique than what was available wholesale. I had been looking for personal jewelry and became frustrated with the selection of styles and materials, and how the industry seemed to be stuck in the 90’s concerning web best practices.

After several years of production in Indonesia, I set up a personal workshop to prototype, use new materials, and troubleshoot issues my artisans were having. This allowed me to teach new techniques and solutions to keep our production running smoothly. I had been coordinating design and sourcing materials for years, but the new direction of putting my hands on materials and troubleshooting processes became a turning point for both myself and the business. I fell in love with the meditative act of making, and particularly with the process and history behind creating artwork from stone. At its peak, Onetribe had many employees, products, and projects both at home and abroad. As I became more invested in making jewelry with my own hands, it was challenging to manage all of those things, and I began to let them go. My philosophy going forward is one of embracing simplicity and play. I intend to cultivate joy in myself and others by using my work to honor the time people spend changing their bodies.

MP: What was the inspiration behind the “Topo” design? What makes this design unique?

JK: Topo is inspired by mountains and rivers, and how we translate those environments into maps. I became obsessed with how to make a river valley with elevations and water that looked as if it was a three-dimensional section from a topographical map. It was also exciting to create something way outside of current body jewelry trends.

A few details that make Topo unique are the rear set stone, a hallmark of mine over the last few years, and the stone shape itself. The stone is tallest at the center of the valley and lowest toward the edges as it disappears into the background. This gives depth and helps reinforce the visual feel of a river. I put a lot of thought into how the design would appear from multiple angles and it is particularly well suited for my recent experimentation with doublets, laminations of two or more stones to create a new aesthetic. That process worked remarkably well for creating a water effect.

MP: Can you tell us about the development and manufacturing process for the “Topo” design? Approximately how many hours go into crafting one pair?

JK: Most of the work for a style like Topo happens before any metal is melted. The process  of refining a design from drawing to paper model, handmade metal model, 3D printed model, mold, and then final metal master took months and it’s still not finished. I’m redesigning the setting due to some production issues and that’s why  I only had a handful of pairs  for Conference. Because the bulk of the work is done up front, an estimate can be misleading. With that said, depending on whether it’s the small or large size, the hardness or difficulty   of the stone, and whether it is a solid stone or   a doublet, the stone carving process takes between one and four hours for a pair. The setting takes on average an hour and a half, and clean up about the same. This works out to between four and seven hours of hands-on time for each pair, not counting the pre-production work.

Topo in large size with Rutilated Quartz and Lapis doublets.

MP: Many of the items available from Onetribe are made to order and customized for the wearer. Can you explain your rationale for this business model?

JK: There are two reasons for this. The first is that I like things to fit correctly and be special for the customer. If I can easily accommodate sizing or aesthetic specifications, then that customer has helped create their own jewelry. The second reason is that it’s a risk making stock using time-consuming processes and materials where every cut is unique. I can make ten pairs of plugs or weights this week, and two or ten may sell. It may be a month before any sell. It takes a predictable income to run a business and make sure that bills get paid on time. Relying on the unpredictable nature of one person with the right aesthetic, size requirements, and budget to find and buy that one product is not a stable business model. That model is better suited to businesses who are buying wholesale or mass manufacturing.

There is a big caveat here, and it’s that running a standing production queue for years on end is mentally and physically tiring because there is always something due. Each order is paid in advance, and thus the queue is also a huge business liability. It’s not a perfect system and I have some ideas for refining it. I would like to move to more of a balance between stock and custom work and involve customers in selecting what styles, materials, sizes, and price points are stocked and available for immediate purchase.

MP: Your website says that you’re “perfectly content being nerds about beautiful woods and stones and coming up with new ways to make them wearable.” What is your favorite material to work with and why? What are some of the characteristics of the materials you choose?

JK: Choosing a single material has become difficult as I use stone in different ways beyond simple solid plugs. Recently I have been super into  searching  out  specific colors in stone. I get excited about combinations  of bright colors like Chrysoprase (think mineral-pool green) and Turkish Purple Jade. I also get weak in the knees for pastels, and I have been looking for rare colors like pale pink, peach, lavender, and cool grays in Botswana Agate. Nodular agates like Botswana are unique because they tend to occur in small pieces that look like eggs, and due to the exterior skin it’s not possible to tell what’s going on until it is cut. Searching for a specific color means cutting open many nodules to see what I’ve got to work with, and then narrowing down what’s useful now or inspiring for later. I cut down over 20 nodules to find the handful of small pastel pieces I used in a recent pair of my Moon hoops. I’ve started to think about stones as a palette and not just individual entities, and it’s opening up some exciting possibilities for future work.

MP: At the 2016 APP Conference & Expo, you took home the Creative Innovator Award for your “Ghost in the Shell” design. Did that win influence your submission for this year at all?

JK: It did! Up to that point, I had been mostly focusing on technical work such as new setting methods and modernized historical jewelry. Ghost in the Shell was one of the first designs to reflect my personal aesthetic. It is not ornate, but it has thoughtful attention to line quality and light play and huge personality when you pay attention. I actually did not plan to enter anything that year, but someone at Conference suggested I submit GitS while I was setting up my booth. Winning the Creative Innovator Award for that style was confirmation that my design aesthetic is valid and that I shouldn’t worry so much about what’s trending. I had no idea how Topo was going to be received this year but I decided if I am going to continue to try and do new things, I gotta go for it despite my insecurities.

MP: As a well-known and established jewelry company, do you have any words of wisdom you’d like to share with up-and-coming artisan jewelers in our industry?

JK: I’ll never forget Keith Alexander telling me right at the beginning of my business that it wasn’t worth it, because the industry was too saturated. I took this statement to mean “do it better, or there’s no reason to do it at all.” He may not have meant it that way, but a few years later he congratulated me on building something special and that made me very happy. I used to have the opinion that saturation is killing the jewelry industry, then I realized that a more accurate assessment is that saturation only happens when there’s little to get excited about. So please, make things! Bring it, but bring originality and do it well so we can all get hyped on creativity and innovation, and push ourselves and each other onward and upward.

Point 84: Volunteer Appreciation Award: Theo Sheffler

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by Caitlin McDiarmid, APP Administrator

Theo working Registration
Photo by Autumn Swisher

The 2018 Josh A. Prentice Volunteer Award winner was Theo Sheffler.

Caitlin prepares to present the award.
Photo by Shanna Hutchins

I love this man and my man loves him too. Theo is one of those volunteers that has been quietly serving our Conference and may not get noticed by many of the Attendees. He is one of the friendly faces behind the Registration Desk, but does so much more for our Conference.

He makes me laugh more than anyone else at Conference and although I don’t see him but once a year, he’s always there for me to give me a hug, make me look at some stupid video, or have a deep conversation about life, love, and chickens. He gets rated as one of the friendliest and most helpful volunteers from year to year by attendees and volunteers alike. He’s humble and reminds everyone always to take things less seriously. Before Theo asks me for something the first words that come out of his mouth are “Is there anything you need?” In some ways, Theo epitomizes the word “service.” This year someone put Theo in charge at Registration, and while I have been teasing him about it, the fact is that he’s perfect to be the Registration Manager. He’s kind and polite, knows how to diffuse frustration with humor and has an amazing work ethic.

He’s been volunteering since we were at the Tropicana and has not missed a single year. I was so happy to honor my friend and colleague, Theo Sheffler with this year’s volunteer appreciation award.