Joel Briggs, aka Sgt Pepper, is a self-taught pendant designer and fabricator. His deep affection for pendant art began with Burning Man. In 1998, he was gifted his first swag and, with it, a desire to understand swag and the 10 principles of Burning Man. Inspiration and a willingness to use metal have roots in his years in high school, where he learned metal machining. But it was not until Burning Man 2003 that he took his high school education and applied it to his first metal pendant, the Oil Burning Man. Since then, Joel has worked with other Burning Man artists learning different techniques, processes, and the thought processes of how the artist designs their pendants, swag, and gifts. He has procured the machines and tools to create and fabricate pendants from this. As a result, Joel has developed a love for Burning Man art and its history, which he shows in his artwork.

Joel’s pendant art embodies the culture and essence of Burning Man. His recent pieces are passionate about creating expressive, beautiful, and meaningful pendants depicting the Burning Man Culture, the 10 Burning Man Principles, and the Burning Man themes. Joel designs his pendants to encapsulate the purpose of being a “Burner” and the growth of a burner. This is achieved by applying geometric motifs, symbols like fire and the heart, and a rule of 4-3-4 to his pendant designs. The symbols and 4-3-4 rule are critical features on the pendant to tell a story and capture the feeling of being there. The 4-3-4 represent the body (4) with our minds, emotions, desires, and wills. The (3) represents LOVE, LIVE, and DANCE. And the last (4) is about the lessons of being a burner. Since 2013, most of his pendants have seven features to say to the story. His pendants bring Burning Man’s realism and beauty to burners they will remember forever.