(Association of Professional Piercers)
Las Vegas, U.S.A. 12-17 May 2019

This year was a special edition of the annual conference organized by APP, based in the U.S.A. but with participants from 5 continents.

Always a great opportunity to learn new things and review already acquired notions and perhaps deepen them by discussing them with colleagues.

This year our legal representative Bruno Valsecchi, in collaboration with old friend and esteemed colleague Brian Skellie, had the honor of opening the conference by holding a specific Hygiene Workshop that saw the class full.

Two hours of exposure, in which specific technical, procedural and ethical information was introduced, which are essential for the practice of piercings within a professional study.

Very interesting the theoretical part, but the practical part, as usual, surprised the bystanders, highlighting, through specific products responsive to U.V. rays, if and where there was contamination during the various simulations.

The workshop’s intention was not only to share information but above all to give solid stimuli for reflection to the participants.

This year the conference was dedicated to the commemoration of the father of modern body modifications and body piercing, Fakir Musafar.

A beautiful and moving art exhibition gallery was organized and set up by APP with the help of Cleo DuBoi (his wife), Paul King, his students from the school “Fakir Intensive Body Piercing Course” and all those people who have been close to him over the years of his career.

We were lucky to visit the exhibition with Willian (Grin) Grindatti, body piercing instructor and his dear friend.

It was great to have Grin during the exhibition because he told us about Fakir’s life and career and also about his personal experiences lived over the years with him.

We are honored to have had this magnificent opportunity.

We too (A.P.T.P.I.) are lucky to have had a direct experience with Fakir and Cleo who were our guests during the 11th edition of the Italian Suscon (Convention on Body Suspension practice).

We invited them to share with us their experiences and emotions, which are closely linked to the practice of corporal suspension, of which Fakir Musafar was the undisputed pioneer in Western culture.

An indescribable emotion lived with these two people with magnetic and unique charisma.

In short, it was a real shame for those who could not participate this year.

We strongly doubt that these commemorative moments of Fakir can be repeated in a context that has gathered such a large number of milestones in the history of body piercing, body modifications and body suspension worldwide.

A great honour to have been named by his wife Cleo as people who remained in the heart of Fakir, during the main commemorative evening dedicated to him, in which 5 of the most significant characters gave his life expressed their memories and reflections on this great man who has left an unbridgeable void in our hearts.

The next edition will be held in Las Vegas from July 5 to 10, 2020.

See you next year.

Staff APTPI

Gallery