Meet Evan Spencer | Professional Piercer/Business Manager

We had the good fortune of connecting with Evan Spencer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Evan, what is the most important factor behind your success?
Consistency, quality of work and products I am using, and treating my clients as if they’re family. I’m grateful for every single person that wants to have a piercing done by me, and I don’t take their trust lightly.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been a professional body piercer for the last 21 years. For 16 of those years, I’ve been lucky enough to call San Diego home. For 13 of those years, I’ve been managing and piercing at Enigma Professional Piercing.

I’ve always approached piercing from two standpoints: artistic and technical. First and foremost, my goal is to give you the safest, most aseptic piercing process possible, using state of the art equipment for sterilization while utilizing single use products for all procedures. I’ll only work with the highest quality US-made implant grade titanium or solid gold body jewelry. This is to ensure you’re getting the best and safest jewelry available, which in turn will aid in a smooth healing process. The artistic aspect, for me at least, comes down to the placement of certain piercings, the jewelry style chosen for them, and making sure they have the right flow with the part of the anatomy we’re working with. Some of my favorite work to do are ear curations, since they are so anatomy specific and come out a bit different for everyone.

Getting to where I’m at professionally took time, patience, and dedication. When I began piercing in the early 2000’s, information about the trade wasn’t as easily accessible as it is today, and there weren’t that many high end jewelry manufacturers. Early in my career, as well as currently, it was so so important for me to learn how to do everything the best and safest way possible, since my clients are trusting me with their safety during a piercing procedure. I learned about the Association of Professional Piercers (APP, membership can be verified at safepiercing.org), which is a non-profit org that hold their members to a much higher standard than state or government regulations. I began attending their yearly conference with industry specific classes, and education materials on jewelry standards and safe practices. I was also lucky enough in the early years of my career to get invited to different studios around the country for guest piercing spots. This proved to be a great opportunity to work alongside and watch some of the best piercers in the industry, and learn and collaborate with them.

I’ve made some of the best friends I have through the piercing industry, be that colleagues and clients that have become dear friends. 20 years later, I still thoroughly enjoy piercing and working with people on a daily basis. What I enjoy most, and pride myself in, is being able to facilitate a comfortable and enjoyable experience for people, while getting to know the people I’m piercing a bit better.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My go to neighborhoods are usually North Park and Normal Heights. We’d definitely have to hit up happy hour at Cantina Mayahuel for their street tacos. Thai food at Bahn Thai is a must. To check out some of San Diego’s vegan offerings, I would take them to Kindred or Mothership. I always find myself taking visitors to balboa park, the Japanese friendship garden and the botanical garden there is worth the trip. For some amazing views, Sunset Cliffs or Torrey Pines, which also has some great hikes. La Jolla cove is a must for vacationers, I always take my mom there when she visits. The Barrio Logan art crawl falls on second Saturdays and is definitely worth checking out. San Diego has too many amazing places to list, so I couldn’t possibly name them all here, and I’m sure I’m leaving out some of people’s favs.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
All of my wonderful clients and friends that continue to get pierced by me, I really can’t express my gratitude to them enough. If you’re reading this and I’ve pierced you, I love and appreciate y’all so much! My fiance Ariel, who is the best partner and teammate in life that I could ever dream of. And of course Didier Suarez, the founder and owner of Enigma, who’s put his trust in me to help run his studios for quite some time.

Website: enigmapiercing.co

Instagram: @evanspencerw @enigmapiercing

Image Credits
Portrait by Autumn Swisher. All other photographs by me.