Master piercer J’son D’souza on metal art

When independent jewellery store Lune announced on Instagram earlier this week that they held a piercing party we stopped and read that again Master piercer Jrsquoson Drsquosouza would be taking care of the holes we were told Why would you need professional expertise to drill a hole through flesh What does he teach across studios in Europe and why does he say one must only use titanium to pierceThe piercerrsquos studio PicsSameer MarkandeldquoWire piercing and gunshot are traumabased methodsrdquo explains DrsquoSouza who runs his studio in Orlem Malad To answer a question no one asked pets are welcome at Tatau Tattoo and Piercing studio ldquoLet me put it this wayrdquo he continues ldquowhen you want a nail in the wall you can hammer it in directly but that would crack the wall around it Instead you can drill a hole and then hammer the nail Itrsquos the same principle for body piercing We use a sterilised singleuse needle to pierce and then slide the piece of jewellery in We do not use the piece of jewellery to make the holerdquo Another nuance is the use of titanium jewellery until the wound heals ldquoGold and silver will have a percentage of another metal they are alloys and can cause infection take longer to healrdquo he says This is also the reason for the discolouration commonly seen around the piercings Titanium commonly used for bioimplants in the human body is what he recommends he uses only implantgrade metal ldquoThe human body does not react to titanium which is why it is used in medical and dental implantsrdquo explains the 45yearoldDrsquoSouza has been into lsquometal artsrsquo for 17 years and says therersquos more to it than just collecting random piercings hersquod rather curate them Some of his clients have plans for 20 to be made over the next two years and choosing appropriate jewellery also needs as much attention and studyJrsquoson DrsquosouzaldquoPiercing as a practice has been a part of human civilisation for 5000 yearsrdquo he says ldquoOur ancestors had more piercings than us Mummies in Egypt were found to have nostril piercings and navel piercings were common amongst highborn men It has been used to denote class hierarchy coming of age many communities in India will pierce a girlrsquos nose when she gets her first period warrior wins and so onrdquoThese days his specialisation is a bit more personal mdash piercings on intimate body parts and BDSMKinkinspired ones Think genitals that just made us cross our legs and nipples This has grown exponentially over the past two years and people come from all over India to get their intimate parts pierced Drsquosouza does not consider any lsquoplacersquo odd and admits that these hurt the most next are those on the cartilage ldquoWomen have a higher pain threshold than menrdquo he says And what does this say about the person ldquoYou hang art on the wallshellipI wear minerdquoOn December 9 to 10 prebook a 15minute time slot 1 pm to 6 pmAt Shop Lune 39 Chimbai Village Bandra WestLog on to mrpiercer tatautattoomumbai