By Joe Mansell (The Art Of Nails)
The Art of Nails are one of Auckland’s premier nail salons. They sit in that nice little niche between being a chain salon (there are 4 locations around Auckland) and being that cool artisan boutique you only know of by word of mouth.
When I was put in charge with finding some cool brand partnerships for both the Jacqueline-Anne and Cecilia Kang shows I knew I wanted The Art of Nails.
The amazing AON team met with the designers both virtually and in person, and over the course of a few months we tailored the mood, colour palettes and designs to fit each designer’s vision. This partnership involved gaining access to the designers’ creative concepts and themes.
Joe Mansell, Co-owner of TON and head designer for the nails of Cecilia Kang’s show, had this to say:
“We made the decision early in the concept process, that due to the complexity of the designs we wanted, our nails were going to be pre-fabricated and applied on the day to the models.
For Cecelia Kang’s show, we recognized an opportunity to push the boundaries of nail design. We harnessed AI graphic technology and creative input from Cecelia to create stunning concepts that, while loved by both teams, proved impossible using traditional nail art techniques.
Consequently, we leveraged intricate computer-generated design and 3D printing technology, alongside our skilled nail artists. Over two weeks, we developed a proof of concept and early prototypes, which, once refined and approved by Cecelia’s team, entered production. We crafted four design groups, comprised of 20 sets, with every nail being uniquely 3D printed, assembled, and hand-painted by our Senior Nail Artist team.
Jaqueline-Anne’s collection featured contemporary Maori motifs and colour palettes, inspiring us to develop a distinctive nail design system that was bold and attention-grabbing. Our senior Nail artist dedicated three weeks to refining creative concepts and crafting four unique designs for the runway models, perfectly complementing the outstanding collection.
Zambesi reached out to us to supply nail design services for their run-walk models. It was great working with such an iconic New Zealand brand and our technicians enjoyed the experience of being part of the runway preparation and show.
We were honoured to collaborate with such creatively accomplished New Zealand fashion designers who allowed our team to showcase our creative and technical expertise, resulting in unique nail designs that enriched the vision of the runway shows.
Pictured: Joe Mansell and Vyctorya Vo from The Art Of Nails
