The Fisherman Turned Haute Couture Nail Artist: Tomoya Nakagawa
The ocean holds inextricable treasures and has wavered in the imagination of humankind since the dawn of time.
The unctuous bodies of jellyfish, feisty spikes of sea urchins, holographic scales of fish, and glossy waves: the sea creates a divine cocktail of an ecosystem, consistently inspiring the globally acclaimed Japanese nail artist Tomoya Nakagawa.
There are chances you have already seen his work, whether it was on social media or on the hands of Bjork, Saweetie, supermodel Kiko Mizuhara, or Rina Sawayama. Born in Tokyo, Nakagawa moved to Wakayama near the ocean after a career setback. With no previous experience, he pounced at a fisherman position because this job and the ocean always fascinated him. After a year and a half of arduous work, Nakagawa moved to New York with his boyfriend, and the pandemic happened.
It was during these sheltered days in a brand-new country that he learned nail art from his nail artist partner, and soon Nakagawa was sending custom press-on nails from coast to coast for exclusive photoshoots and celebrities.
With globulous horns, piercings, ribbons, and alienesque opals of algae-like movements, Nakagawa’s nail designs are straight from outer space and, visibly, from under the sea, as he often mentions how his experience as a fisherman reflects on his art. With his artistry and vision, nails are no longer a negligible detail of beauty, but a new fashion category altogether. He pays homage to his gyaru background and his admiration for Spanish modern artists with his kaleidoscopic catalog of surreal colors and shapes, never skimping out on campness. Beyond bejewelling fingertips, he also creates facial embellishments, grills, and other various accessories.
His nails defy symmetry gracefully, architecturally challenging functional fashion for the sake of beauty, extravagance, and the grandeur of self-expression done right.
