It’s nearly 2 PM when Alligator Jesus touches down in London. Not a moment to spare—he checks his watch—places to be, people to meet.

For those unschooled in the world of metal-adorned mouths—Alligator Jesus is something of a grill guru. He’s fashioned iced-out metal pieces for the mouths of some of the biggest names in music and entertainment. He’s gotten word that the grill he made for Madonna might need a refitting, so he hopped on a plane and skipped across the pond.

His FLAUNT interview was scheduled for the day of his flight, and he needed to cancel. But Alligator is a busy man with grillz to make and hands to shake, and whether or not he’d call and cancel will forever be a mystery. Because as fortune had it, I was headed to London too. I called up the grill master to reschedule our interview, and twelve hours later we were 40,000 feet in the air, chatting over bitter airplane coffee.

“I’ve thought a lot about legacy,” Alligator tells me as I crunch into a Lotus Biscoff. “In the hundreds of thousands of years that homo erectus has been walking the earth, cultures have been doing artistic adornment on their bodies. Some of the earliest things were created for certain purposes of designating humanity's need for basic principles such as fertility.”

Surely a thousand years from now, when our culture is boiled down to a single chapter in a history book, Madonna’s picture will bless a page. And perhaps Alligator’s grill will gleam through her smile, leaving future civilizations wondering what that metal smile meant.

The process of creating a custom grill is no small task. It requires several steps, beginning with a dental impression, then meticulous design, followed by a wax model before the metal is cast, polished, finished, and finally fitted to the mouth it was made for.

I ask Alligator how he defines excellence in grillmaking.

“Well, the grill either fits or it doesn’t.” He pauses. “Sometimes it doesn’t even mean fitting the teeth, but fitting the personality or the energy of the person. If they feel weird wearing it, then it doesn’t fit.

Alligator checks his watch. He’s got a schedule to keep: First to visit the Queen of Pop and then over to Hackney to fit FKA Twigs for a music video. Her team had requested clothing from his downtown LA showroom, so he filled a suitcase with the latest lines of jewelry and clothing from the boutique designers that he platforms before he left.

As we hop into the cab, Alligator tells me about the first grill he ever made—-a piece of tin foil fashioned over his teeth when he was four years old.

We drive through Hyde Park and cross into Paddington.

“The last time I visited London I could barely scrape together enough quid for a cup of coffee. Now I’m wearing more on my wrist than I used to make in a year. It’s interesting how much can change in ten years.”

Our stomachs get the best of us and we sit down at Seymour Kitchen, a small and delicious Persian restaurant on the southeast side of Paddington.The stew looks nice, but we don’t have 40 minutes to spare. Alligator orders the salmon and sits back for a rare moment of reprieve.

I ask when was the last time he remembers taking a day off work, and he smiles slightly and sips his coffee.

“Even while I'm having lunch, I'm working.”

As if on cue, a camouflage-clad Ricardo Gomes appears in front of our table. The fashion photographer, who’s images have appeared in FLAUNT over the years, pulls up a chair. He informs us that “M" was mistaken and the grill didn’t need a refitting, but Ricardo showed up to discuss new grill ideas on behalf of the icon herself. And while he’s here, the hesh photographer asks to get his own grill adjusted.

Alligator pulls out his tool kit and sets it on the table without hesitation.

Small talk turns to brainstorming ideas for Madonna’s new grill. The food brought out to the table starts to go cold as Alligator tinkers with Ricardo’s grill for the perfect fit.

As we leave Seymour Kitchen, I realize that Alligator Jesus isn’t just a master of his trade; he’s an artist in the purest sense—never off the clock, always creating, always pushing boundaries. As the cab pulls away, he checks his watch again, a quick flash of gold and diamonds under the London sky. He’s got more places to be, more mouths to adorn, and a legacy that’s already started to gleam, much like the grillz he so meticulously crafts.