Gauntlet Enterprises

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gauntlet Enterprises is a body jewelry and related equipment business with offices in San Francisco , New York City and Seattle, and a franchise in Paris . It is considered the first company of its kind and a trendsetter in the field of piercing .

history

The Gauntlet was founded in November 1975 by Jim Ward , who was inspired by his friend Doug Malloy . The original location was in Ward's private home in West Hollywood. The first commercially operated store was opened on November 17, 1978 on Santa Monica Blvd. Opened in 8720 in West Hollywood. The Gauntlet's clientele came primarily from the gay and BDSM communities . Gauntlet became known for modern piercings and expanded its customer base with it. At times, Gauntlet was part of a mail order business for piercing jewelry . Jewelry was also manufactured in-house and the manufacturing processes were later outsourced to other companies. Ward and his team developed several jewelry variations, some of which are still common today. The barbell , for example, was created in collaboration with tattoo artists Horst Straßenbach and Manfred Kohrs .

The Gauntlet started publishing a magazine called Piercing Fans International Quarterly in 1977 . Originally a mostly black and white brochure, PFIQ evolved into a full-color magazine with photos, art, stories and tips on piercings. During its years of publication, PFIQ was the primary source of information on piercings.

Gauntlet Enterprises filed for bankruptcy in 1998 due to mismanagement.

Master piercer

From 1992 onwards, several piercers received certification as senior and master piercers. Many of these individuals became influential in the field of piercing and trained later generations of piercers.

  • Elayne Angel - the first person to be certified as a Master Piercer.
  • Michaela Gray - Head of the Gauntlet Piercing Seminar and later founder of the Association of Professional Piercers.
  • Dan Kopka - trained many of the piercers who worked at the Gauntlet New York City studio.
  • Mark Seitchik - longtime piercer in the Gauntlet San Francisco studio and later manager in the New York studio.
  • Paul King - Long-time piercer in the Gauntlet in San Francisco and Los Angeles and later owner of Cold Steel America, a piercing studio in San Francisco.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gauntlet Paris. Retrieved February 12, 2012 (French).
  2. ↑ Jim Ward: In the beginning there was Gauntlet ( English ) BMEZINE.COM. January 23, 2004. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved on November 9, 2010.
  3. ↑ : Cover PIFQ No. 1. ( Memento from March 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) In: gauntletenterprises.com. Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  4. ↑ Jim Ward: The World's First Piercing Magazine ( English ) In: Running the Gauntlet . BME. October 24, 2004. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  5. ↑ Brandon Voss: Father Knows Best (English) . In: The Advocate , October 9, 2007. Retrieved November 25, 2007. 
  6. ↑ Running the Gauntlet ( Memento from July 11, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), cited in "In the Flesh: Body Piercing as a Form of Commodity-Based Identity and Ritual Rite of Passage", honors thesis by Amelia Guimarin, under the direction of Teresa Caldiera, Anthropology, UC Irvine, 2005 (English)
  7. ^ Henry Ferguson: Body piercing ( English ) Student BMJ. January 2000. Retrieved November 25, 2007.
  8. ^ Gauntlet Returns to Its Founder . In: gauntletenterprises.com. Retrieved February 12, 2012.