jewelry Archives - Rogue Piercing

BVLA is the leading designer and manufacturer of fine body jewellery in the world. Rogue also has an entire cabinet stocked with exclusively their jewellery. But why? Why are they so great? What makes them so special, and better than any other goldsmiths on the market? Well, let’s find out.

Who are they?

BVLA, Body Vision Los Angeles. They are designers, manufacturers and innovators based over in the heart of Los Angeles, California. Founded by their owner Nick Martin in 1996, they have proudly built up a business that has exceeded industry standards, provided top quality body jewellery, and defied the status quo. At present, they have 100 employees and five jewellery workshops, all dedicated to the process of turning dreams into reality.

You can find BVLA’s jewellery all around the world. At current, they sell their jewellery to some of the best piercing studios in the world, in over 25 countries. You can find BVLA stockists in New Zealand, France, Spain, Malaysia, the UK, the Netherlands and many more destinations.

Why are they highly recommended?

If you have been looked into a higher quality piercing studio, or different high quality studios, you will notice that there are lots of companies that offer gold, or fun colours and cute designs. But what makes BVLA stand out from the crowd? Why do they have the ultra-lux reputation that they do?

They are ethical: BVLA are arguably one of the most ethical companies in the piercing industry, and consistently make responsible choices in every regard. The Gold that they use is recycled to help minimise environmental impact, and all of their Diamonds are ethically sourced and guaranteed to be conflict free. They are also big believers in equality and diversity for all humans. They currently have a programme called the ‘BVLA Future Stars‘. This programme is an apprenticeship that aims to support and provide full-time paid positions for under-resourced BIPOC, in order to help them forge careers in fine body jewellery and manufacturing.
They have an infinite amount of choice: BVLA is currently the home of over 3000 unique original designs, and this collection still continues to grow and evolve every day. They work with 7 different metals (both 14k and 18k Yellow, White, and Rose Gold, as well as the ultimate luxury: Platinum). They also have the ability to offer over 150 different choices of gemstones, from Sapphires and Diamonds to Labradorite and Rose Quartz. You can find a rainbow of colours a dozen times over. There is also additional choices of textured materials, and the different types of finishes and cuts. Choose between hammering or sandblasting? The choice is truly yours.
They are high quality: BVLA are the basis of high quality jewellery and manufacturing. With every single product being designed, handmade and hand polished in LA. Every part of the the process is intrinsically thought out to achieve the best results. Every time they receive a new order, the responsibility is handed to an individual jeweller. This means the jewellers and makers can avoid the boring tedious task of just making the same design over and over again, and can have pride and joy over their creations, while still keeping their brain active and fresh.
They offer a lifetime warranty: This is a huge factor for piercers. From human errors to machine breakdowns, you can never be 100% certain about anything. Especially with body jewellery. Offering lifetime warranty on manufacturers defects is a big bonus. They take such huge pride in their work and are so confident in their craftsmanship that they will repair or replace any item that they have ever made, totally free of charge.
They offer completely custom work: One of BVLA’s most attractive features is their custom work. Every single piece of jewellery they offer can be customised by the client in hundreds of ways. From choosing between hundreds of gemstones and finishes, to redesigning the minutiae of each item, BVLA really provide the opportunity to be creative. But it doesn’t stop here. They also work with piercers and take on custom order projects and custom designs. If you can think it, they can make it! They also offer a service that is incredibly unique and rare in the piercing industry, and that is reworking. They offer the ability to rework and reset gemstones and traditional jewellery into body jewellery. For example, you can no longer wear your family heirloom Diamond ring because of work? They can help turn that classic earring into body jewellery for you. Fancy something a little different? Lets make it into a septum ring!

A gorgeous BVLA curation with Gold, Rainbow Moonstone and Swiss Blue Topaz.
A stunning custom order piece using Green Tourmaline.
A brilliant trio project starring a BVLA Afghan and three genuine Diamonds.
A custom order for a creative Dinosaur end!

Why Do Piercers like BVLA?

Of course, BVLA are not the only jewellery manufacturer making high quality pieces, or fancy gold ends, or even working with genuine gemstones. But apart from the previously listed reasons on why they are amazing, why do piercers have such a connection with BVLA?

Well BVLA work very closely with piercers. Each studio that is a stockist of BVLA has their own personal point of contact. For example, Kat (our jewellery specialist at Rogue) has been in touch with the same personal contact (Hi Phoebe!) for the duration of their time at Rogue. Some piercers will work with the same contact at BVLA for decades. Whether that’s talking about previous or existing orders, any questions or quotes, purchased jewellery etc. This helps provide a truly personal feel between BVLA which creates a warm and welcoming atmosphere, rather than being passed from person to person to find answers.

BVLA also recognise their clients (that’s us!). When we place our jewellery orders, sometimes we like to treat ourselves to something new as well. When piercers or counter staff place an order for a personal piece of jewellery, BVLA offer a small discount on that piece. This helps piercers feel recognised and appreciated, and its a really sweet gesture. We are forever grateful!

They also continue to show their support and appreciation of piercers by attending conferences. They attend the APP conference is Vegas quite regularly, and this year they went out of their way to travel to the UKAPP Safe Piercing Conference in Manchester to be a vendor. They also donated 3x generously priced gift vouchers to the piercers raffle, valued at over £10,000. That could be genuinely life-changing for a piercer or studio!

So, why should YOU care?

Overall, BVLA has arguably the highest level of care for their jewellery, clients, and their own staff and future in the industry. They continuously offer the highest quality jewellery, and a high quality service. They are a consistent pleasure to work with. BVLA offer unique services, not just for piercers and piercees (such as reworking and resetting) but they offer unique advantages such as their Future Stars apprenticeship! Their jewellery is potentially the finest and greatest jewellery that is on the market. While being ‘expensive’, (Price and value are truly personal to each person – What is expensive to one person is not for another) their price consistently matches the quality of the item you receive.

If you are interested in learning more please check out more of our blogs! If you would like to place an order for your own piece of BVLA feel free to contact us at customorder@roguepiercing.co.uk!

Head to our instagram for a full BVLA lookbook of some of our favourite pieces.

Worn Jewellery Degradation

Jewellery degrades over time. This is true of all things – Entropy comes for us all! This is not necessarily a cause for concern – Titanium labrets age very well and do not tend to cause issues to the wearer. Issues only tend to arise when an attempt is made to reprocess, sterilise, and re-implant the jewellery into a new person. Please read the below figures as they are super interesting!

Brand new Titanium alloy implants, ready for use in medical patients.

We do not have any data specifically from body jewellery (yet!), however Titanium alloy implants from dentistry and osteology are an excellent (and well-studied) source of reference. As you can see, the surface of the implants can become scratched, dented etc through normal wear. This worn surface causes no problems in a healed piercing as the piercing is settled and robust. This is not a surface that should ever come into contact with a fresh piercing, as jewellery is stored appropriately at the studio to avoid damage and a damaged or worn labret is never used in a fresh piercing.

The same Titanium alloy implants after wear in the body. Note the scratches, dents etc.

Biological Contamination

Using a worn post in a fresh piercing is cause for concern- that imperfect surface can scratch and irritate the fresh piercing. The main issue with this though is the fact that it is impossible to fully sterilise this item. The cracks, folds and imperfections can collect biological material which is difficult to remove from the surface. Introducing this into a fresh wound is not hygienic and should not be done by any professional piercer.

Biological debris still clearly present on the implants **after** cleaning and sterilising.

The above images shows the presence of biological contamination – This can be carbon residues, proteins, biological cells, all of which are permanently adhered to the surface of the implant. Testing has shown that since the surface cannot be completely cleaned, there is a high risk of prion residue. Prions are proteins found on the surface of cells, which can become damaged and misfolded. These prions can then cause Prion diseases such as CJD. Although very rare, the potential existence of prions on the surface of worn jewellery is enough of a risk that we would never reuse worn jewellery in a fresh piercing, especially not across different people.

A common argument I hear is ‘But we’re related!’ This argument is moot. Pathogens, as far as we are aware, do not discriminate between related and unrelated individuals. Even if they did, the contaminants and biological matter would still cause an immune response and opens you up to potential infection.

Equipment Contamination

Jewellery needs to be appropriately sterilised to be used in a fresh piercing. Putting a worn piece of jewellery into our autoclaves would potentially contaminate them with biological matter, which is inappropriate and opens up the risk of spreading contaminants across clients! This risk is obviously low due to strict reprocessing protocols within the studio, but the safest risk is the risk you don’t take in the first place.

Healed Piercings

Healed piercings are generally robust and not as vulnerable to infections from worn jewellery. The issue with this to us as professionals is that spreading biological contaminants between people is always too high of a risk. Biological swabs of worn earrings showed that up to 485 colonies of bacteria can be found on a single piece of jewellery, with species including Staphylococcus and Bacillus. Some species of which are responsible for Staph, MRSA and Meningitis. 1 in 30 people are thought to be asymptomatic carriers of MRSA – Inserting jewellery contaminated with their microbiome, skin cells, sebum and other debris leaves you at risk. For example, if you are sharing stretching jewellery and cause any microtears during the insertion process, this leaves you very vulnerable to infection.

You would hope that worn jewellery being sold online would at least be sterilised, but it is difficult to prove this and many listings simply skirt around the topic of hygiene. The average reseller simply does not have access to the type of machinery required to reprocess and resterilise jewellery. This is a very concerning thing to see from a professional studios point of view as you do not know the health status of the previous wearer, and cannot assume that the jewellery is safe to wear even if the seller claims it is ‘pre-loved, but in great condition!’ This is one of many reasons why we do not use jewellery purchased outside the studio in fresh piercings.

In general, we would recommend extreme caution when purchasing worn or preloved jewellery, even for healed or stretched piercings. The risk is far too high. It is unhygienic – Comparable to wearing someone else’s used underwear or sex toys!

To conclude, we know it’s really tempting to go down the worn jewellery route. High quality jewellery, especially Gold jewellery, weights and hangers, are quite expensive and it can seem like a savvy financial decision to find them second-hand. However, the risk of infection, bloodborne pathogens, and irritation to your piercings is too high for it to be a sensible choice. We always recommend finding your nearest high quality piercing studio and purchasing brand new jewellery for all of your piercings – Your body is worth it! You only ever have one body, so treat it well. High quality does not always mean high cost – Neometal offers a wide range of high quality body jewellery with a very accessible price tag. You can also find Glass jewellery for stretching on our website!

Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or queries you have! Don’t forget to follow us on social media to ensure you don’t miss any posts or announcements.

References

Tag: jewelry

BVLA – Fine Body Jewellery