Artists

With my designs, I wanted to bridge the gap for people with more unique anatomies. I enjoy creating pieces with a specific area in mind that can also work beautifully in other placements. I’m very mindful when designing shapes and choosing attachment styles (threaded, threadless, or both) to ensure more people can access and enjoy beautiful jewellery.

I also felt it was important for this collection to be made entirely using natural stones - something I wanted to introduce more of into the QualiTi catalogue, particularly smaller pieces featuring more imaginative cuts.

The Grounded Collection has been part of a personal healing process for me. I designed these pieces not long after losing my mum and rebuilding myself, so the collection is a dedication to her, to me, and to the more grounded mindset I have now. Each piece is named after someone who helped me get to where I am today.

When people wear my designs, I want them to feel seen—but more than anything, I want them to fall in love with themselves. For certain piercings, some anatomies have fewer jewellery options, which I believe can unintentionally create shame. My main focus was to challenge that. I want people to embrace their individuality and uniqueness, and to see that everyone deserves jewellery that reflects who they are.

It wasn’t until I shadowed a reputable piercer based up in Brighton for 3 or 4 months at the start of my career that I myself began to identify and develop genuine reputable standards.

I then took it upon myself to connect with more experienced piercers and attend annual seminars (APP) and webinars that help to expand my knowledge and skills, all helping me to become the Silly Sausage piercer I am today!

Body piercing and body modification has been a huge part of my life since I began to accumulate piercings from the age of 14. It’s no secret that body modification is indeed addictive, but alongside that it becomes a huge part of your identity.

When I used to get pierced before becoming a piercer, I remember I would experience a very euphoric feeling every time I peeped my fresh new piercing in the mirror and feeling not only proud of myself for overcoming the fear but also feeling like I recognise myself just a tiny bit more.

Bumbling aimlessly through school and college followed by a few years of working in retail, with the encouragement of my wonderful retail manager at the time I finally took the plunge of investing in a piercing career that I had absolutely no business plan or structure for.. all I knew was I wanted to assist people in decorating their bodies and expressing themselves safely through the art of body piercing.

I pride myself on maintaining a peaceful and relaxing, yet vibrant environment for my clients to be pierced in. I play binaural beats and healing melodies in my piercing room to keep my clients nice and grounded, as I find everyone’s music taste can differ so to avoid any clash in vibes I like to play what chills our soul out!

With regards to set-up, all surgical steel tools that I use are sterilised via an ultrasonic and autoclave. All jewellery is de-assembled and packaged individually before being sterilised via the autoclave. I use alcohol wipes and iodine to prep the skin of the piercing site. I am absolutely a gun free establishment, my stabby instruments of choice are blade needles or cannula needles.

It goes without saying that I entirely enjoy every piercing I do! But naturally, I do have a few classic favourites. It’s hard to choose just one! So I’ll go for my current favourite three… first being eyebrow (LOVE pairing them up too), second being nostril, third being tongue. All entirely different from one another, but ooooohhh so satisfying to pierce!

What I love most about my job is the look I get to see on my clients face when they look in the mirror and show so much joy when they peep their fresh piercing.

At this point in my career I have met hundreds, if not thousands of beautiful souls who have travelled to me with their trust in hand and to be able to say that I have offered each of these souls a safe, sterile service that helps them in a way to release, express, decorate or empower themselves is nothing short of a priceless honour. I am so thrilled on a daily basis to be a small feature in each of these individual journeys.

I’d say the worst part (if there is one) about my job is some peoples ignorance and dismissal of aftercare advise. I love each and every one of my clients with my entire heart and soul, but there are a handful of clients who make my job difficult or repetitive when they choose to ignore my aftercare advice. This also makes my work look shoddy.

Clients who get their ear cartilage pierced but do not sleep on a travel pillow despite this being a firm recommendation of mine. Or clients who get their nostril pierced with a labret and are too impatient to wait for it to heal properly before installing a hoop, then wonder why their piercing becomes inflamed and irritated with a bump.

I myself have 33 piercings and counting!!

Piercings have affected my identity and persona in different ways over the years. I was a rather insecure youngster, like most people I had a lot of things I didn’t like about my physical appearance. Especially with regards to my face.

When I began to get piercings, the more I got on my face the more I could hide behind. People would notice my piercings before they noticed my insecurities so to speak! That’s how I felt when I was 14 to about 17 anyways.

Then when I got to 18, I removed all of my piercings and entirely toned myself down internally and externally for just over a year, to appease these boring social “norms” that I had totally lost myself to.

I missed my piercings hugely, eventually after a year or so I impulsively got my nostril re-pierced again and when I looked in the mirror I recognised myself a little more for the first time since removing my all of my piercings.

Piercings made me feel protected at a time when I was vulnerable in my early teens, I used them as a unique shield and as a way to find release. Even though people around me thought I was typically rebelling by getting piercings, I was actually falling in love with the art that is self-expression. As I got older, I stopped using piercings as a distraction from my ‘flaws’ and started seeing them as enhancers of beauty.

It’s not that I wouldn’t be confident without my piercings now, but if I was to remove them all and look in the mirror I know the reflection of myself that I’d see would be incomplete. My piercings to me are symbolic of my freedom, bravery, and patience and healing.

One of the many memorable moments that I’ve experienced at work would be when a gentleman wearing a posh suit came up the stairs and asked if he could purchase some needles and jewellery from me so he could pierce his own Jacobs Ladder. I politely said absolutely not.

A professional goal of mine is ultimately to provide a safe, sterile, welcoming space where souls from all walks of life can come to me to be adorned with whatever their heart desires (anatomy and practicality dependent of course!).

I want to be able to offer my clients variations of jewellery that are nothing less than the safest implant grade metals. Above all else, I want to provide a service that helps people to love their bodies and anatomy as much as I do!

Everybody deserves to love themselves. Everybody deserves to unapologetically decorate their gorgeous bodies with mods how they see fit, with professional and safe guidance.

It’s hard to choose just one so I’ll reel off my favourite three. It goes without saying I am head over heels in love with the Tigers Eye cabs in all diameters. The flashiness and uniqueness of each individual cab never fails to bring a smile to my face when I use them in piercing.

The ‘Tawny’ marquise fan is beautifully ethereal, the sparkly coffee brown outer crystals amongst the central Tigers Eye marquise is sheer brilliance to me.

The ‘Daphne’ forward facing emerald hinged ring is another favourite of mine. Green being my favourite colour, the vividness coupled with the daintinesses of this ring brings divinity to any septum or Daith in my opinion.

I was always called ‘goth’ or ‘emo’, or asked, ‘Why do you only ever wear black?’ All these silly things that were meant as insults. It did used to get to me, and although I never changed who I was, I would distance myself from people I didn’t know well to avoid the comments.

As I got older, I just stopped caring and embraced it. I think a lot of people are getting back to dressing how they actually want to and caring less about other people’s opinions — and too right! That’s what I want this collection to be about. Embrace your gorgeous and spooky little self!

Definitely Ouija. I have a huge love of all things paranormal and have a few Ouija boards at home and in the studio. They get some funny looks from curious — and slightly frightened — friends and clients. The funny thing is, I’ve never actually used one and probably never will! I even have a mini Ouija board and planchette on my keys. You know, in case I need to summon a demon on the way home. You never know ;)

When I first started selling tarot cards and incense in the studio back in 2019, I honestly thought people might turn their noses up at it. Instead, I found this whole community of clients who were into the same things I was. It grew from a few tarot cards into crystals, spell kits, books and different forms of divination, and now I even make my own spell bottles.

Clients send me spooky memes and things they find and say, ‘This made me think of you.’ I had no idea I gave off such a weird vibe so quickly but at least they keep coming back! Since changing the studio name to New Moon, I’ve wanted the atmosphere, the things we sell and the jewellery to all feel like they belong together.

It’s actually insane to think I was QualiTi’s first featured artist! I still have all the pieces from my Halloween collection framed. Looking back, though, I think I played it a little safe because I worried my ideas wouldn’t be good enough. This time there’s been much more imagination behind the designs, and New Moon feels much more like me. Apart from a little pot of Yorkshire Tea and an Ice Nine Kills piece, I think my personality is pretty much covered.