Back in October of last year, we took a brief look at the life of Jim Ward and the effect he had, and continues to have on the body piercing industry. We mentioned the Gauntlet, the piercing studio he started with the help of Doug Malloy, and this month we want to delve a little deeper into the story of the studio that changed the world of body modification.

The Gauntlet, also known as Gauntlet Enterprises, was a business founded in November 1975 by Jim Ward, which pioneered the field of body piercing in North America. The original clientele came mostly from the gay S&M community of Southern California. During the years that Ward ran his business from his home, many Gauntlet customers belonged to a group of gay Los Angeles men named the Tattoo & Piercing Group. The Gauntlet quickly became known as the location for body piercing, and its customer base grew beyond its original roots. Just three years after Jim began piercing in his home, on November 17, 1978 it celebrated the grand opening of its first commercial location at 8720 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. The prominent corner location on one of Los Angeles' busiest streets brought the public awareness of piercing to a new level, and attracted clients from outside the traditional subculture.

As piercing became more popular, the Gauntlet expanded, opening three more studios. In Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and New York City, the Gauntlet made body piercing big business. Piercers began to train at the various Gauntlet locations and often went on to open their own independent studios, further growing the industry and imitators opened all over the country. With The Gauntlet's help, body piercing went from the backroom pursuit of gay leathermen to a worldwide phenomenon.

At its heyday, The Gauntlet was much more than just a piercing studio, it operated a strong mail order business for piercing jewelry and manufactured its own jewelry as well. Manufacturing however was not the only thing that set The Gauntlet apart from other studios, Ward and his team developed a number of the types of body jewelry in use today. This included coining the terms "barbell", "circular barbell", and "captive bead ring".  

Run for two decades by Jim Ward, the Gauntlet turned out many of the best piercers in the industry it helped create. In the mid 1990's Jim decided to sell controlling interest of the company, and without his guidance the company went bankrupt shortly after.In 2004 the trustee of the company's name, trademarks, and intellectual property put those assets up for auction on eBay. "My greatest fear," said Jim, "was that it would fall into the hands of someone who would not appreciate its historical significance. I only hoped that it would go to someone who would cherish and protect it and somehow make it available as a resource to the piercing community." On June 26 of that year, an anonymous bidder benefactor placed the winning bid of $6,623.32, in the last five seconds of the auction. Less than one month later, on July 20, 2004, the anonymous bidder sold the assets to Drew Ward's (Jim Ward's partner) corporation, re:Ward, Inc. for the sum of $1.00, returning the Gauntlet Enterprises name to its original ownership.   

Fan photo of the month

Super Orbit Eyelets in ASTM F-138 stainless steel; Synthetic Ruby, Syntheic Garnet, Pink CZ, CZ gemstones