Posts tagged industry history

Point 80: Piercing: Erik Dakota

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Interview by Sean Dowdell, City/State: Santa Cruz, CA

THE PIERCER THAT EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT, BUT DOESN’T

Sean Dowdell: Erik, let me start by saying that it is a huge honor to do this interview with you. You have given me and the piercing industry a lot of insightful and innovative years. It has bothered me  for several years at this point in my career when I speak to young piercers and most don’t know your name or the incredible contributions and impact you made on our industry.

I have looked up to your work for my entire career and you are honestly one of the most inspirational figures in my piercing world. I feel that this interview is an important part of our industry’s history that   I would like my colleagues and peers to read and know.

Can you give us a little background as to how you came to be interested in piercing?

Erik Dakota: I lived and grew up in Santa Cruz, CA. I was going to school for mechanical engineering when piercing started to creep into my life. Early 1980s, Gauntlet was the only real studio on the   West Coast. I was using Silver Anchor, non-annealed jewelry and it was loads of fun, haha! I got excited about piercing and seeing what the mind and body was able to overcome. I was very experimental in different communities such as the punk and gothic scenes, and the “nerd” and “BDSM” culture seemed to come together very naturally in my world of friends. I am straight. However, a lot of my friends and their friends were in the LGBT communities and I was immersed at least on the fringes of that lifestyle. I enjoyed the “Body Play” and seeing what the body was capable of accomplishing and enduring.

There were really no piercing studios at this time other than Gauntlet and everything was really expensive. At the time, us college students couldn’t really afford to play in the piercing world as often as we had wished, so I started getting into manufacturing jewelry myself. I wasn’t around any other actual piercers yet, so I started experimenting on myself and friends by piercing everyone. I wanted  to learn more about the technical aspects.

Gregorio Gus had arranged for me and him to watch Elayne Angel pierce down in LA at Gauntlet for the day. This was really my first block of actual piercing knowledge. She was very kind and insightful as to how to perform certain techniques and was extremely helpful. Elayne was really impressed    and thrown back because I had actually had my rook pierced and she had never seen one before. Apparently, I invented it which was a shock to me as well. I always assumed someone else had done this, but apparently not!

Sean Dowdell: I think you were a disrupter in the piercing industry and you have pushed the boundaries further than most people know. How do you think that came about?

Erik Dakota: Alan Falkner and I were hanging out and he was a great supporter of mine in pushing me into the field more and more (this was before Alan actually got involved  in piercing). This was a really exciting time for me and all of us! Alan eventually went on to be one of the top suspension artists in the world as well. With friends like Alan supporting me and several others, I started to feel more confident about my abilities not only with piercing but with the design and manufacturing of jewelry.

Sean Dowdell: How did you work around the issues of not having standardized jewelry at the time of your learning in the 1980’s?

Erik Dakota: By working with Silver Anchor, I realized that there were so many areas that it could improve the design. I wanted to pierce full time and design jewelry.

Needles at the time were horrible, we were better off using a 16 penny nail. Gauntlet had their own needles on the market and I didn’t like the style of needle that they offered. It was simply not sharp and really difficult to use. So… I started developing my own needle designs and introducing them to the industry. Back in this time, it was so hard to find a simple good needle and today it’s almost hard to find a bad one.

Sean Dowdell: Weren’t you involved in creating some of the jewelry standards?

Erik Dakota: Yes, when I started making barbells, I noticed that there were gaps between the barbell shaft and ball, so I designed  a countersunk ball. It got rid of issues with fluids and debris getting caught in the gap.

I was the first to introduce the ASTM standards to the industry in my catalog and created lot numbers for full traceability with stainless steel and titanium. I was also the first to “passivate” my stainless steel lots (this means that any deposits left on the steel from the tooling, and improved the overall metal surface; while manufacturing it would be removed). I knew within the medical implants field, the need for this when using ASTM stainless yet sometimes the SS would get rust deposits on it.

Sean Dowdell: Did you ever own a studio and where?

Erik Dakota: I opened the first piercing shop called Anubis Warpus in Santa Cruz and (I didn’t own it, however I helped open it around 1982). This was the same year the Body Manipulations opened in San Francisco as well. I never owned a studio myself; I was much more into the jewelry company Dakota Steel. I had to make  a decision by going all in with piercing or all in with jewelry. I chose the jewelry company and decided to pierce on the side.

Dakota Steel did well for quite a few years until I decided that things weren’t going the way I had hoped in my life and the company’s direction was far from what I wanted. I tenured my resignation to Dakota Steel (a company that I founded and poured my life and  soul into) in 2000 and founded (Noble Industries) DBA: Lotus Body Jewelry on my own. Around 2008, I decided I had my fill of the jewelry industry. I love piercing, I love making jewelry but at the time I was just over it.

Sean Dowdell: Who was most influential to you in the early years and why?

Erik Dakota: Jim Ward was an enormous inspiration. I was actually able to purchase my first set of Pennington forceps from Jim personally and I thought he was a god.

Sean Dowdell: What type of things did you invent in the 90s that most piercers wouldn’t know?

Erik Dakota: The big 3 were: the Rook piercing, the Daith piercing, and the development of a lot of tools such as small jaw Penningtons, fine tooth serrations on Foerster forceps, ring expanders, and slotted septum clamps.

Sean Dowdell: The Industrial piercing. Yes, for all of you youngsters out there this man invented all of these!

What do you remember about coming up with the Daith piercing and are you surprised by the popularity of something you created?

Erik Dakota: I think that it is all about the jewelry choices that are available now. That has made these specific piercings as popular as they are right now.

Sean Dowdell: What are your current interests and hobbies?

Erik Dakota: I still love to pierce, and cutting and suspension, as much as I can.

Sean Dowdell: What do you think your greatest contribution to the industry has been and why?

Erik Dakota: ASTM Certification for jewelry in our field.

Sean Dowdell: Do you have any regrets?

Erik Dakota: Yes, every day. I think about the industry all time. I felt like I was pushed out and if I had the funding I would get back into it in a heartbeat.

Sean Dowdell: What are you doing now?

Erik Dakota: I went into medical manufacturing. I used everything that I was doing in the jewelry industry and easily moved into the manufacturing departments for a couple of companies. I’m glad to have been a part of the industry for so long and hope it continues to grow.

Point 79: The 90s

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…FORGET THE REST THERE’S NOTHING ELSE BEYOND THE BODY…
Brian Skellie

THE NINETIES
COMPILATION BY KENDRA JANE B
The Point Editor

“What can I say about the nineties? Those ten years shaped and influenced the rest of my life more than any other decade I have experienced. I graduated high school, had my first serious boyfriend, went to university, lost my virginity, found my fem- inist voice and became a regis- tered voter, lived on my own for the first time, and got my first body piercings.” —Kendra Jane B.  

“The early 90s were the golden years of ‘celebrity piercer.‘ Recognized piercers were treated like rock stars. These ‘good ol’ days’ weren’t ‘better times,’ but they were certainly more wild.”—Paul King

“The 90s were my coming of age in several ways; both as a young man and as a piercer.”—Luis Garcia

“The 90s was when I first discovered music, sex, and body piercing (in that order). I saw pierced nipples on MTV in 1995, and here I am now.”—Cody Vaughn

“My formative years were in the 90s. In 7th grade I heard “Smells like Teen Spirit,” and it’s impossible to explain how much influence that one song had on the rest of my life. By 1999 I had graduated high school and begun my career as a body piercer.”—Jef Saunders

“It was anarchy really? No rules, just putting needles anywhere you could grab. It was equal parts awesome and ridiculous.”-Ryan Ouellette

Whether showing off by the pool or volunteering for the APP, Brian Skellie’s passion for our industry hasn’t changed since the 90s.

Conference has come along way since the 90s but if you look hard enough you might see some familiar faces, ones that still make our Conference great, decades later.

Point 76: Interview with David Vidra – Matte Erickson

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The Point: Issue 76 - Cover

Matte Erickson
Body Piercing Archives

In a continuing effort to bring a little insight to some of the interesting people within our history, we bring you our next casual interview with, David “Mama” Vidra. The contributions that David has been responsible for are too numerous to list. A piercer, registered nurse and educator, David has been an integral figure in pushing the piercing industry towards legitimacy in the eyes of Federal and medical agencies. Not only was he an early Board Member, instructor, and liaison between the APP and OSHA, he also created Health Educators (www.hlthedu.com), one of the only industry training programs in the world.

Matte Erickson: How did you get the nickname “Mama”?

David Vidra: Mama came from Kevin Tarbell at Splash of Color in East Lansing, Michigan. It also came from all the years I worked with the handicapped. That started when I was 13. I started High Hopes for the handicapped and in the early ‘80s started an organization that cared for AIDS patients until death. North Coast AIDS Home Care, an agency taking care of the patients, closed in early 1990. I also did theater with the deaf/blind and assisted with a deaf choir.

Matte Erickson: How long have you been around piercing? What is your history?

David Vidra: Since I was 21. I got my first piercing at Body Language in Cleveland, Ohio by Linus Herell. So, 38 years total I have been around piercing and involved. As far as my history, I apprenticed and did piercing all while focusing on other parts of my life. I directed outdoor education program for a CYO Camp in Ohio, worked with mentally and physically challenged people for care as well as directing theater with the deaf/blind and what we call normal people, but the whole time I was piercing, getting pierced and doing all the above.

Matte Erickson: Who most influenced you in your early body piercing career?

David Vidra: Influences outside of local people, which was Linus and John Brittian, came mainly from the Gauntlet’s PFIQ. Fakir’s Body Play magazine also was a great influence in regards to the spiritual aspect of piercing, which was also very important to me.

Matte Erickson: Who have been your role models during your involvement in the piercing industry?

David Vidra: Michaela Grey, Jim Ward, the Gauntlet classes (basic and advanced). During my classes there I met both Al D. and Eric Dakota. These were the first people that really affected me personally and professionally. Also, I got the opportunity to speak with Elayne Angel (this was before her involvement with APP) at a FDA conference in New Orleans, which had both been invited to speak at. I always had great respect for her and was fortunate to have gotten to watch her pierce at her studio. All of these people helped shape my career and so many more I haven’t mentioned as well. Shops like Infinite Piercing, Blake’s shop, Note Nomad, but they were the more extreme of our time and would share information freely.

Matte Erickson: What are a few of your favorite Conference memories?

David Vidra: Favorite memories, there are so many this is very hard to keep short. When conferences began, if there were 200 people there, OMG that was huge! We would debate different things from aftercare, things such as preps; betadine is what almost everyone used at the time, and BZK wipes to remove it (ETOH (alcohol) would deactivate it), salt solutions etc. Memories of good debates and agreeing afterward what directions we wanted to see the industry head.

Being around people who love everything you do, sharing information with each other about why we would do what we do. There were schools of thought, Jim Ward’s, Fakir’s, other owners and those who had minimal to no medical education and could not get it. Being a new nurse at the time, about six years or so, I took what we did in medical, but not to the extent we did in hospital. This included documentation, adapting tools (no locking forceps etc.). It was an exciting time!

Doing the opening session with Derek and Shawn on the classes, who the Board was, was such fun. Teaching with Dr. Jack on anatomy and working with him on legislative issues in early ‘90s. Attending the first APHA convention. Michaela getting us that membership expense both to be there, and to get our membership paid for, not from dues, but from our own incomes. Such a success! Talking to all these people who did not really receive us too well at first, but that was the minority.

My fondest memory was teaching bloodborne and studio documentation. Teaching wound care with Dr. Betsy and teaching anatomy with her and Dr. Jack. Discussions at the splash bar with those people who would say can I talk with you, and spending hours answering questions and trying to help every person no matter how long it took.

There are goofy things, but my fondest of all, was teaching and giving everyone the information they needed (no trade secrets), being accepted by others at times (though some never did). When Bruno (Pat Tidwell) gave me a towel with my initials on it, I had made it into the towel club. It felt great and came with respect from some more extreme people which, God, I wanted to be, but could not. So I could live through them keeping their asses safe, and we could come up with new ways to do what they needed to.

Research, God, back when I was on the Board for five years and a consultant (until three years ago). Research costs money. Not just going on the web. Back then, you paid for medical and nursing journals, and for opinions from government and other big agencies. All that money was raised, or paid for, by my shop so we could prove points from minimum standard to higher standards, where appropriate. Sterilization, oh my God, what we did then to now, but no one bitched about money they spent because it was for the greater good of the community.

One last one is the first legislation in Washington; helping to write it get the proof of what we were asking for and it being passed with a ban on ear piercing guns what a rush.

Matte Erickson: What keeps you busy now that you no longer pierce?

David Vidra: All the work I have done for education, from research to getting different certificates within nursing; such as wound care certificates and certified instructor and facilitator, which both added to what I could give, and getting things certified for health inspectors for their continuing education. Setting the base courses, anything with health and safety. Teaching anatomy and wound care with Dr. Jack and the latest with Dr. Betsy and the organizations. Early on we were members of APHA, and some I just do not remember. Working on the NEHA manual (the first one) and I am glad to hear it will be updated finally. Working with OSHA, CDC ,and NIOSH with different projects, all of which really brought me much joy with the illness affecting me the way it does at times, it makes it a bit hard to continue it all so I limit what I can do.

Matte Erickson: If you could pass on one piece of advice, what would it be?

David Vidra: One piece of advice: keep your relationships strong and make time for them over anything else (work, organizations, etc.) When everyone else is gone, only they will be there. The others will not. Just your closest friends and your partner. The rest move on without you and that has been proven. Most do not know my lover, he never wanted to go there with me, but he was always home when I came home and loved me no matter what. So keep them strong. My only regret is not one at all. I did a lot . I know that I was, and still am, a good piercer and educator and do both when feeling well with pride. No matter what others might say, my name still holds weight.

I miss some of what was, and miss it fondly. Remember, we all get replaced, but no one can be who you were to the clients and students you served.

Matte Erickson:Puppies or kittens?

David Vidra: Both right now. We have a boy; his name is Gus. He thinks he is a dog, but he is not. He is the sweetest when he wants to be, and tries to keep my legs calm. He always knows when things are bad and makes it better. I am looking for a small dog to go with Gus and of course, for me.

We hope you enjoyed this little look into the life of David Vidra. To be honest, I am amazed it is as short as it is. David is a great storyteller. If you ever have the chance, please pull him aside and let him tell you some of the stories in a way only he can tell. And, to David, thank you for putting up with all the correspondence in getting this done. You are a gem. If you would like to see anyone in particular interviewed here, feel free to contact us at archive@safepiercing.org.

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