Chieko Ishijima, 25, is the manager of Brilliant Nail Shibuya, a salon next door to the Marui and Seibu department stores, smack in the middle of one of Tokyo's hubs of young fashion. She quickly painted and sculpted her way to the top of the highly competitive nail-art industry with intricately layered designs incorporating semi-precious stones and super-cute designs made from acrylic. Once on a customer's fingers or toes, her miniature flowers, bows and anime characters are works of art that speak for themselves. Ishijima herself says she just loves being face to face with customers and adorning their nails with some of her handiwork.
Nail artists are model makers, sculptors and architects, all trapped in one body. We create long, perfectly shaped nails and make sculptures by adding layers of gel, airbrushed designs, 3-D artwork and decorations.
The most interesting process in life is the discovery of how things are made. When I eat Japanese sweets, I always wonder how they were created. When I see the Egyptian pyramids or Kiyomizu-dera temple in Kyoto, I try to figure out how they were built.