Are 90s piercings are making a comeback? Ask Maria Tash

About Maria

A native New Yorker, Maria was influenced by the music and fashion scenes of the '80s and early '90s. She matriculated at Columbia University and moved abroad to attend King's College in London.

There, she embraced asymmetry and unusual juxtapositions when styling apparel, makeup, hair, and the new burgeoning piercing field.

Maria merged elements of her experiences in Manhattan and London and eventually San Francisco, where she spent time in the early '90s. The city was the center of the US creative piercing community, and it was here where she shared and honed many of her piercing skills.

She was one of the first members of the Association of Professional Piercers, which was founded in San Francisco.

Maria viewed piercing as a form of beauty and wanted to couple it with delicate fine jewelry — a contrast to the thick, industrial looks that were popular at the time. Her penchant for interesting placements resulted in never-seen-before jewelry applied and layered on the body in a novel fashion. Because of her background in science, Maria concurrently developed a piercing methodology now known as "the forward-facing technique," and has the only patents ever issued for piercing locations; the Tash HelixSM and the Tash Hidden RookSM. From her first studio in Manhattan's East Village in 1993 to her presence across continents today, Maria continues to push the boundaries and is recognized as a vanguard and trailblazer in the piercing and fine jewelry worlds.