I was born in St.boniface, Manitoba. I left Winnipeg as soon as I was old enough to drive out of it.

It was the “Summer of Love”. 1967, and Hippies were hitching back and forth across Canada in search of Peace, Love. Grooviness and in some cases; spare change.  Usually they would stop on the steps of the legislative building under the Golden Boy to catch their breath, or… something and get their bearings. Pierre Elliot Trudeau sat with us one afternoon and listened politely as we explained how to save the world. I remember admiring the way he answered questions by asking one which was my first lesson on how to sell.

A vast number of people were coming from Vancouver and heading to Toronto. They all said the same thing; “You’ve got to check out Vancouver man. It’s so cool.” But they were going to Toronto and so did I.

I got my first piercing in Toronto in 1968 in commemoration of a friend’s untimely death on the 401.
It was an ear piercing done by my friend Billy Barkhouse with a “home piercing kit”:
A sewing needle, an ice cube, a potato, a lighter, one of your girlfriend’s or Mother’s orphaned earrings, and a bottle of JD.

The method varied but more or less went like this; you rub the ice cube on your ear until it doesn’t feel any pain, then drink the JD until you don’t feel any pain either. The piercer heats up the sewing needle with the lighter to “sterilize” it, puts the potato behind your ear to catch the needle and sticks the needle through your lobe, into  the potato, sighs with relief that you did not scream and pulls the needle back out of what he thinks ix a hole. Then he grasps the jewellery, usually a “sleeper” , between his thumb and forefinger and tries to put the jewellery through the hole, which is where it all falls apart. It’s not a hole; it’s several holes.

As you pierce an earlobe you are going through 14 layers of skin plus some other stuff. When you pull the needle out the individual layers shift and the holes don’t line up so when you push the jewellery through you end up piercing a new hole with the jewellery which is even duller than the sewing needle you used in the first place.

It hurt’s like hell.  But you survive. Then you spend two months trying to heal it with alcohol (wrong) or peroxide (wrong).  Mine healed in spite of me, mostly due to showering every day.

Seventeen years later I did my first piercings on my girlfriend’s nipples. Since there were no “piercing rings” available we decided on safety pins. And since she was my girlfriend, after all, I went to Woolworths and bought Gold Plated (really bad) safety pins, after I pierced them, she too, tried to heal them with alcohol and peroxide but since she was afraid to move them, among other things, they rejected leaving scars in her nipples reminiscent of slot head screws.

A few years later we met Mack McKinnon, the original owner of Mack’s Leathers who introduced us to Jim Ward of The Gauntlet in San Francisco, the forerunners of the present piercing phenomenon.  In the 90’s he and Fakir who worked together and were the forerunners of today’s piercing knowledge and popularity.

Jim explained a much better way to pierce.

I pierced my own nipple after that with a real piercing needle, a stainless steel fixed bead ring and state of the art aftercare. Apart from the fact that it was, and still is, crooked, it healed well. I re-pierced my girlfriend shortly after that.

Several years after that and more piercings on myself and others I met Tom Finch and Gale Shub of Body Circle Designs who made 316lvm body jewellery.

In 1991 they agreed to let me wholesale their jewellery in Canada since my professional background was in sales and I had an active interest in piercing.

Since I already had a love for piecing I started NEXT in 1992 with my financial partner Leslie Thomas.  With Tom and Leslie’s help live and over the phone, when I had any questions, I got the space up and running.

In 1993, Tom suggested I take Fakir’s course in San Francisco for “Validation”. I attended a four day course and received a Certificate of Attendance.

In 1994 we moved the shop to its present location and being the only shop totally dedicated to piercing we did well. We respected the trust clients gave us to pierce and provide them with the best jewellery available. We developed a drive to serve customers in a clean professional manner with the best jewellery available and guaranteed healed piercing.  That continues to this day.

In 1999 I had pierced for 15 years and by request from many people wanting to apprentice to be a piercer I started teaching piercing through NEXT’s shop. I decided though that my students needed to have a formalized knowledge of the whole business in order to be able to run their own business and that students had to pass an exam for a certificate rather than simply show up and that holds to this day.

Over the years I have taught dozens of piercers from all across Canada and continue to do so.

For Information on the course Click Here.