alfa.K + Camille Walala Nail Stickers
The London-based artist brings her colorful work to a miniature canvas in this beauty collaboration
Fresh, colorful nails are an easy way to update an everyday look into something a bit more exciting. French illustrator and graphic designer Anne-Claire Gambette’s nail sticker brand alfa.K offers plenty of unusual, fun hand decorations—like the sheer marble polish patches that make your nails look fashion shoot-worthy, or the “Fella” series that consists of comic book-style eyes, lips, bones and hands. Alfa.K was founded by Gambette just a couple of years ago when she realized that the manicure was also an artistic discipline that let her express herself freely on a pretty small area of the body.
Gambette either creates the alfa.K designs herself—she sees the brand as a laboratory where she can experiment with new designs—or works with other artists. Past collaborators include masomenos, Nails by Mei and Leslie David. Now, Gambette has teamed up with London-based artist Camille Walala, whose colorful designs suit the medium perfectly. “I’m really keen on all Memphis design influences and I totally crushed on Walala’s wall paintings. I like to work with artists who have nothing to do with nail art, and I was thinking having those huge and colorful murals on tiny little nails would be great,” Gambette says.
For Walala, who already liked alfa.K’s aesthetic, the collaboration was “a perfect match.” She says, “I’d never done a nail collaboration before and thought it could be a great canvas! On this collaboration we got inspired from a facade I did for the shop Third Drawer Down in Melbourne. It’s great to see that a pattern can work on different scales.” Walala’s graphic nail designs in yellow, turquoise and pink hues feel like you’re rocking a miniature art gallery on your fingertips.
As a tip for new users, Gambette suggests playing around with her nail polish patches. “You can actually superpose the patches with nail polish colors,” she says. “I created lots of clear base designs for the new collection. Of course you can wear them just like that, but I also liked the idea the anyone can make it really unique by playing with them and mix/matching with any color you wish.” Her aim for the future is to continue to work with inspirational artists through the small-scale medium. “Alfa.K nail wraps are the best excuse to approach artists I like and propose for them to express their creativity on this unusual, very small surface,” Gambette concludes.
Images courtesy of alfa.K
