From Sea Creatures to Minerals
The first time Tomoya Nakagawa (also known as Tomonyan) created his own nail art pieces, he was a teenager in Tokyo, enrolled in a nail school nestled in Ginza. He recalls bringing in around 20 self-made nail tips, neatly arranged in a clear case, which impressed his instructor. Though Tomonyan enjoyed the classes, he stopped attending after just three sessions. His interest in nail art, however, never quite went away.
The Tokyo-born, now New York-based nail artist remembers growing up with open-minded parents who never imposed ideas of what was “normal.” As a child, he loved playing with ANGEL POCKET, a miniature dollhouse tucked inside a compact, and spent much of his time at his mother's hair salon. By high school, he was immersed in gyaru culture, flipping through magazines like egg. His father, who ran an apparel company and pursued oil painting as a hobby, often took him to parks and art exhibitions. But his father's taste for classical oil paintings never quite aligned with his own.
For the nail artist known for his gummy-hued headpieces and mind-boggling 3D nail sculptures, Tomonyan's visual language leans toward the extraterrestrial. Futuristic, otherworldly forms seem to grow organically from his creations, resembling miniature alien appendages or undiscovered deep-sea creatures. Much of this fascination with unusual organic forms can be traced back to his time as a fisherman on Kii Oshima in Wakayama Prefecture.
Dense greenery of ubame oak, chinquapin, and camellia trees flourishes on this island that marks the southernmost tip of Honshu. Kii Oshima also teems with rich marine life brought in by the warm ocean currents, and Tomonyan recalls spending a year and a half here harvesting funori seaweed in the springtime, shellfish in summer, and spiny lobsters from fall through winter.
Holographic skin of live squids and the luminescent colors, shapes, and textures of fish thus naturally find their way into Tomonyan’s recent claw-like nail art for SZA featured on Interview Magazine’s Summer 2025 issue or the protruding alien-like nail sculpt created for Windowsen SS23 show.
Natural forms inspired by plants and living creatures have stuck with Tomonyan’s nail art creations from early on. Inspired by his partner, Tomonyan initially developed an interest in nail art by experimenting with nail tips, accessories, and acrylic gels. His creative practice, however, truly took shape when he developed a technique for sculpting gel into three-dimensional forms. The resulting wriggling shapes, reminiscent of the tentacles of an unknown creature, became a defining feature of his work and a starting point for his distinctive visual language. When Tomonyan first started designing nail art in 2020, boggling amoeba-like creatures and extending tentacles populated his designs.
Take the transparent nail art piece that he created for Björk, featured on i-D’s 40th anniversary issue, as an example: a flower piece winds at the center while miniature tendrils grow out between the petals.
Once the nail artist began to outgrow the limits of handcrafting, he turned to his partner’s 3D printer to bring his further intricate designs to life. To master Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Tomonyan recalls self-teaching through a highly laborious process and skills by referring to YouTube tutorials and other relevant sites.
Today, Tomonyan’s creative thoughts first take shape from a rough sketch made on ZBrush, a digital sculpting software. Once printed, he adds color using an airbrush in his home studio. In this hybrid process of human artistry and machine-making, his works continue to strike a balance between natural forms and the futuristic. For example, nails featured in Kiko Mizuhara’s Amazon Prime Video series “Kikokikaku” feature iridescent, bulbous bodies (likened to tiny jellyfish or polished sea stones) perched on the tips of milky white sculpture nails.
Elsewhere, rappers like Saweetie, Lil Nas, Elle Teresa, and NENE from Yurufuwa Gang also make up Tomonyan’s past clientele, where long acrylic nails have historically symbolized femininity, power, and freedom within the hip-hop culture. Under Tomonyan’s artistry, gel acrylics carve out ethereal fragility and striking details that trace back to Mother Nature's shimmering fish, sea bunnies, and mollusks.
Over time, Tomonyan’s one–of–a–kind, nature-inspired artworks also began appearing as wearable accessories. They first took shape as cat ears and alien-like appendages forged in a cosmic vision. Then came the Gentle Monster x Overwatch 2 capsule collection, where he reinterpreted and designed the game character D.Va’s signature headgear, accented with clear blue tubes and circular pieces looping around the face.
Since then, Tomonyan has been creating headpieces, hairpins, and facial adornments, each tailored to the aesthetics of some of K-pop’s biggest names.
For IVE, it’s the pearly-white hair ornaments, shaped like sculpted wings with soft, flowing curves, and the translucent pink magical hand harness featured in their “Accendio” music video.
For XG, razor-sharp crown adorned by Cocona and the wing and insect antenna-like headpiece worn by Harvey in the “Woke Up” music video marked Tomonyan’s debut work for the group. He then went on to create detailed crystal claws, as seen in “Howling,” and a wearable rib cage-like body piece ornament that XG wore for the Coachella performance last year.
And for the most recent work with ILLIT, the artist went beyond nail art and head accessories. Crafting magical wands in dreamy pastel colors, the looks were key to the 2025 Girl Edition of DAZED Korea, styled around a whimsical, magical girl aesthetic. In the music video for their latest song “You’re Under Arrest,” Tomonyan’s magical wands were reiterated as miniature whistles.
Next on Tomonyan’s radar is EXLIPSE, his upcoming duo exhibition with the Tokyo-based graphic designer GUCCIMAZE. Taking place at Shinsaibashi PARCO in Osaka, the exhibition sees the pair come together to create a universe of fantasy-inspired kawaii weaponry.
Bringing GUCCIMAZE’s style of gleaming metallic finishes and 3D chrome into conversation with Tomonyan’s mind-bending, futuristic designs, the exhibition unites two artists whose work has helped shape the cultural landscape across music, fashion, graphic design, and nail art. The exhibition will run from November 13 until November 29.
「EXLIPSE」 by Tomoya Nakagawa x GUCCIMAZE®
Dates // Friday, November 13 – Sunday, November 29, 2026
Opening Reception // Friday, November 13, 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Venue // Shinsaibashi PARCO 9F / EVENT SPACE (Osaka)
Hours // 10:00 AM – 8:00 PM
Admission // 800 yen
More Info // Shinsaibashi PARCO Event Page or the event’s Instagram page
Follow Tomonyan’s journey on Instagram
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Exploring Tomonyan’s magical shapes as he prepares for his EXLIPSE exhibition.