Maria Tash
{{Short description|American jewelry designer and body piercer}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Maria Tash
| logo =
| logo_caption = Adopted in 2017
| image = Mariatash.gif
| image_caption = Photo of Maria Tash
| trade_name = Maria Tash
| former_name = Venus Body Arts
| type = Private
| industry = {{Unbulleted list|Jewelry|Piercing|Ear curation}}
| founded = {{Start date and age|1993}} in East Village, Manhattan, New York
| founder = Maria Tashjian
| hq_location_city = New York
| hq_location_country = United States of America
| num_locations = {{Unbulleted list|9 concessions|6 freestanding}}{{cite web | url=https://www.mariatash.com/store-locations.html | title=Store List }}
| num_locations_year = 2022
| area_served = {{Unbulleted list|New York Metropolitan Area|Greater Dublin|Greater London|Miami-Dade County|Greater Houston|Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex|City of Los Angeles|Métropole du Grand Paris|Emirate of Dubai|Kuwait City|Riyadh Governorate|Greater Sydney|}}
| products = {{Unbulleted list|Jewelry|Body Jewelry|Piercing Services}}
| owner = Maria Tashjian
| num_employees = ~200
| num_employees_year = 2019
| subsid = {{Unbulleted list| Maria Tash Financial Group Inc.|Maria Tash Limited (U.K)|Maria Tash Ireland Limited |Maria Tash S.r.l. (Italy)|Maria Tash Middle East Jewellery Trading LLC (U.A.E.)}}
| website = {{URL|mariatash.com}}
}}
Maria Tash (born Maria Tashjian in West Islip, New York) is a jewelry designer and retailer. Tash founded the eponymous Maria Tash, a New York-based luxury piercing and fine jewelry brand.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mariatash.com/discover-maria-tash/about-the-designer.html|title=About the Designer {{!}} Discover Maria Tash|website=Maria Tash|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03|archive-date=2019-10-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003223134/https://www.mariatash.com/discover-maria-tash/about-the-designer.html|url-status=dead}} The brand specializes in body piercing, ear curation,{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2019/jul/03/curated-ear-why-delicate-decorative-piercings-are-the-new-tattoos|title=The curated ear: why delicate, decorative piercings are the new tattoos|last=Kale|first=Sirin|date=2019-07-03|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-10-03|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}} and fine jewelry design. Originally founded in New York City in 1993, Maria Tash has since expanded globally.{{Cite web|url=https://fashionista.com/2018/05/maria-tash-earrings-piercing|title=How Maria Tash Went From Piercing Her Friends' Ears at Home to Launching a Global Jewelry Line|last=McCall|first=Tyler|website=Fashionista|date=May 2018 |language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}
Tash's work, under her eponymous brand, has combined elements of mainstream piercing culture with fine jewelry, coining the term “Curated Ear”{{Cite web|url=https://www.image.ie/fashion/curatedear-what-where-get-one-148607|title=#CuratedEar: What it is and where you can get one|last=OConnell|first=Edaein|website=IMAGE.ie|date=6 September 2019|access-date=2019-10-03}} to refer to an ear pierced with fashionable intention and under the direction of piercing experts.
Early years and education
Originally from West Islip, New York and raised in New York City,{{Cite journal|last=Caroline|first=Hamelle|date=September 2019|title=Des petits trous, des petits trous...|journal=Grazia France|volume=508|pages=50–51}} Maria Tash (birth name Maria Tashjian) attended Columbia UniversityAngrilli, Linda; Matthew Nadelhaft (2004). "Piercing Analysis". FIT Network Magazine and the Fashion Institute of Technology.{{cite web|last=QAPP|title=15th QAPP (The Association of Professional Piercers) Annual Conference & Exposition Handbook|url=https://www.safepiercing.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/APP_2010Program_web.pdf|publisher=QAPP|access-date=25 November 2012|page=34|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140809044903/https://www.safepiercing.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/APP_2010Program_web.pdf|archive-date=9 August 2014|url-status=dead}} She also attended King's College in London, England.
Career
Tash opened her first studio, Venus Modern Body Art, in 1993 in Manhattan's East Village, specializing in navel piercings and jewelry. Venus Body Arts{{Cite web|url=http://localeastvillage.com/2011/11/04/body-piercer-to-christina-aguilera-comes-to-avenue-a/|title=Body Piercer to Christina Aguilera Comes to Avenue A|website=localeastvillage.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-03}} later became Venus by Maria Tash{{Cite web|url=https://ny.racked.com/2013/2/5/7689365/noho-piercing-shop-venus-by-maria-tash-sketched|title=Noho Piercing Shop Venus by Maria Tash, Sketched|last=Staff|first=Racked|date=2013-02-05|website=Racked NY|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}} until eventually Tash decided to use her own name for the shop. While first specializing in navel jewelry,{{Citation|title=Top Fastening Navel Jewelry Technique| date=30 November 2018 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-M6FBx435Y|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}} the shop later become known for a variety of ear piercing styles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/style/fashion/style-talk/the-piercing-trend-gets-an-upmarket-makeover-how-maria-tash-made-the-curated-ear-a-style-essential-38362088.html|title=The piercing trend gets an upmarket makeover: how Maria Tash made the 'curated ear' a style essential|website=Independent.ie|date=3 August 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}}
Tash launched a line of international stores with its flagship location opening in New York City in 2004. In 2016, the brand began expanding globally with the opening of a shop at Liberty London.{{Cite web|title=Celebrity piercer Maria Tash opens permanent London shop at Liberty|url=http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/celebrity-piercer-maria-tash-opens-permanent-london-shop-at-liberty-a3314841.html|date=2016-08-08|website=Evening Standard|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}} Maria Tash has since opened permanent locations in Rome,{{Cite web|title=Come si portano i piercing d'estate: i consigli dell'esperta|url=https://www.glamour.it/magazine/news-magazine/2018/06/14/si-portano-piercing-destate-consigli-dellesperta/|date=2018-06-14|website=Glamour.it|language=it|access-date=2019-10-03}} Dublin,{{Cite web|title=A permanent Maria Tash pop-up is coming to Brown Thomas this October|url=https://www.image.ie/fashion/maria-tash-brown-thomas-october-piercing-jewellery-127410|last=ODonoghue|first=Niamh|website=IMAGE.ie|date=6 September 2018|access-date=2019-10-03}} Harrods London,{{Cite web|title=Piercing Princess Maria Tash Joins Harrods' Fashion Lab with New Boutique|url=https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/piercing-princess-maria-tash-joins-harrods-fashion-lab-new-boutique-1202770169/|last=Ma|first=Fiona|date=2018-08-06|website=WWD|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}} and Dubai.{{Cite web|title=This Celebrity-Beloved Jeweler is Opening up a Dubai Boutique|url=https://en.vogue.me/fashion/jewelry/maria-tash-dubai-mall/|date=2018-11-05|website=Vogue Arabia|access-date=2019-03-15}}{{Cite web|title=مصممة الأقراط المتعددة المفضلة لدى الملكة رانيا تفتتح بوتيكها في دبي مول!|url=https://www.gheir.com/read-jewelery.aspx?articleid=63277&title=%D9%85%D8%B5%D9%85%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B7-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%AF%D8%AF%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D8%B6%D9%84%D8%A9-%D9%84%D8%AF%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%84%D9%83%D8%A9-%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7-%D8%AA%D9%81%D8%AA%D8%AA%D8%AD-%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%AA%D9%8A%D9%83%D9%87%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AF%D8%A8%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%88%D9%84!|date=11 April 2018|website=Gheir|access-date=3 October 2019}}
In November 2018 she opened her second freestanding location outside New York City with a 2,000 sq. ft luxury boutique in The Dubai Mall.{{Cite web|title=Celebrity-approved piercer Maria Tash to open boutique in Kuwait|url=https://arab.news/nfycd|date=2020-02-05|website=Arab News|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}{{Cite web|title=Exclusive: Celebrity-Loved Jeweler Maria Tash to Open a Boutique in Kuwait|url=https://en.vogue.me/fine-jewelry-2/exclusive-maria-tash-opening-kuwait-boutique/|date=2020-01-30|website=Vogue Arabia|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-05-11}}
In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Maria Tash began to offer complimentary virtual appointments through FaceTime and Google Hangouts in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Arabic.{{Cite web|title=Maria Tash Offers Virtual Piercing Checkups During Lockdown|url=https://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/maria-tash-virtual-piercing-checkup-coronavirus-lockdown-1203620824/|last=Sidell|first=Misty White|date=2020-04-24|website=WWD|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}
= Design and cultural impact =
Tash modified several industry standard methods of assembling jewelry to create pieces that better fit the wearer. These include a “threaded” style earring backing and "invisible set" diamonds, which are notched and set below the crown.{{Cite web|url=https://www.abouther.com/node/21361/fashion/jewellery/pierced-perfection-interview-maria-tash|title=Pierced to Perfection: An Interview with Maria Tash|date=2019-07-29|website=About Her|language=en|access-date=2019-10-03}} Tash's designs are often smaller and more subtle than the traditional punk-style heavy piercings that were popular in the early 1990s,{{Cite book|title=Punk : a directory of modern subversive culture|date=2007|publisher=Holloway Contemporary Art|others=Bradshaw, James.|isbn=978-1430321545|location=[U.K.]|oclc=713202876}} when Tash began piercing.
Her designs have been worn by Hailey Bieber, Rihanna, Ashley Graham, Queen Rania and Maritta Hallani.
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American people of Armenian descent
Category:Columbia University alumni
Category:American jewelry designers
Category:People from West Islip, New York