Forget everything you know about nail art. For Masha Park, half-Korean, half-Russian, and 100% unafraid of visual disruption, nails are a stage for a manifesto. Based in Seoul by way of Moscow, she builds tiny architectures that balance razor-sharp edges with a kind of quiet power that refuses to be ignored.

Her work has already landed in Dazed, crawled across fashion editorials, and adorned music video frames, yet she's still crafting her own visual universe: one that's raw, restless, and impossible to pin down. Whether it's experimental press-ons for her Maison Masha "ready-to-wear" line or one-off art pieces that belong in a museum, Masha doesn't follow trends. She bends them until they break.

We caught up with her to talk about the narratives she builds through nails, the current state of Seoul's creative scene, and the ambitions driving her next moves.

GATA: Hi Masha! Please tell us a bit about yourself. When and how did your creative journey begin?

Masha: Hi, my name is Mash Park, and I'm a half-Korean, half-Russian artist born and raised in Moscow. I am a multidisciplinary artist working in the visual art and fashion fields, combining modeling, experimental nail art, and creating physical and digital objects.

I started doing nails and then moved to Seoul for work. In Seoul, my modeling journey began, and I was doing nails mostly for fashion shootings, magazines, and music videos. I guess some of my working experience influenced me, and I always knew that my nails were more than just a simple design; each one has its own history/background story. So, I understood that the traditional way of viewing nail art is too boring and outdated for me, and I wanted to create something completely new, which doesn't try to fit into any category. That's how I started to use nails as my main medium for telling my stories and trying to speak with the audience through them.

In everything I'm doing, nails are not an accessory but the main character. I like the idea of transforming something into a completely new form, so it shows that all of our perspectives towards a particular item can be changed. That makes our world much more unlimited than people think.

GATA: Did you always envision yourself working in a creative field? Or did nail art find you in an unexpected way?

Masha: I always wanted to change the world, because so many things just don't make sense to me. Actually, my academic background is far from the creative field. I studied economy and politics, because back then, I thought that politicians and economists could change something. Then, I realized that all of that is some kind of a game (which I don't like) and there are too many "words" and a lack of "actions". Personally, I don't believe that words can change something. I prefer actions.

Ever since I can remember, I was always paying attention to details. So, hands and nails were always important to me. During my college years, I couldn't afford to go to fancy nail shops, which were doing interesting nail art, and the nail shops that I could afford were only able to paint my nails in one color. So, my solution was to start doing nail art on my own. Over time, I became quite good at it, so people began to ask where I get my nails done, and I said I did it by myself. Later, I started to do it for my friends, then for customers, and then for brands, magazines, music videos, etc.

GATA: Your nails feel like miniature sculptures, sometimes delicate, sometimes industrial. How would you describe your artistic style in your own words?

Masha: I think my style is a mix of sharp and raw, yet gentle. Gentle, not in terms of being cute or feminine, but some sort of being opposite to tacky.

GATA: Where do you draw inspiration from? Do you pull from fashion, music, emotion, dreams, or something else entirely?

Masha: My inspiration comes from visual arts, architecture, interaction with people, or just my feelings. It's nothing in particular but more like a mix of everything that I observe and then want to reflect on. It can be a brick on the street, a dot on the wall, or humidity in the air; basically, everything, haha. I don't think you get inspiration from something; everything comes from you. What matters is how you view things and how sensitive you can be to your surroundings.

GATA: What does your creative process usually look like, from concept to final nail set? Do you sketch beforehand or work intuitively with materials?

Masha: It is always different. I barely do sketches; for me, it's a waste of time. But sometimes, I have to do it for a team project to be able to show other people a potential design. But in my head, I already know what the nails should look like in their final version. No matter how good you can sketch a design, it doesn't mean that you can actually recreate it in real life. So, I pay more attention to crafting and practicing with materials until they look like how I imagined them in my head for the first time. But finishing the nails is not the end of my work. Making a set is only half of the process, or even less. I don't just do nails. I do visuals, and how you shoot the nails and which environment you place them plays a major role in delivering the message exactly the way I wanted.

GATA: Your work often plays with texture, weight, and dimension. Do you have favorite materials to work with? Any techniques you're currently obsessed with?

Masha: Choosing the right material is one of the most important parts of my work, I guess. I like to use experimental materials, which are not typically used for nails. I have no aim to make "pretty" nails, nor am I trying to shock people with extra-long or grotesque nails. I like to use unusual materials, but make it look calm and quiet, not noisy. Because when you shout, people don't hear you better. The best way of communication is the right selection of words. For me, it's the same with materials for my nails, which I present as a visual work itself.

GATA: Do you think nails can hold emotion? A lot of your pieces feel almost like wearable memories or moods.

Masha: I'm glad that you feel that way, haha. Yes, of course, that's why I'm doing this: putting my heart into nails and visuals.

GATA: You've collaborated with incredible fashion platforms like Dazed. How does it feel to be recognized after all the hard work?

Masha: Feels nice, haha, and also feeling lucky. I'm really grateful that Dazed tries to showcase young upcoming artists; they featured an interview with me and shared my story about nail art, which was really meaningful. I also sometimes participate with my nails in their editorial shoots. Recently, we worked together once again. I had to make 10 nail sets, which is quite a lot, but I'm still really grateful and happy that our work together continues.

GATA: What's your take on the current creative scene in Seoul?

Masha: Haha, what should I say... You know, Russian people are really straightforward with their words. Sometimes, I think I may sound rude expressing my personal opinion in Asian countries, because I always try to be honest and say what I think. Maybe it's not always necessary lol... But since you ask, my opinion is that:

Universally, there’s a unique driving energy in the creative scene. Young people try their best and create so many new things on their own, and I truly respect that.

The thing that sometimes bothers me here is that, very often, I can see "recreations of trends" but not a "pure" creation of something. You know what I mean? I can see a lot of visually appealing things, but they are empty inside, without any essence. I strongly believe that fashion is not just about the outside image of something. It's a reflection of a different process, which then becomes more surface-level, which is not flying in the air, and still has some base. However, when it's not just a surface but a superficial creation, I think it's very dangerous for the whole fashion or any other creative field, because it means that we are not making our world more artistically rich, but rather making some imitation, which sooner or later will certainly collapse and put the industry in a creative crisis.

GATA: You recently launched Maison Masha for custom press-ons. What inspired you to create a separate space for that?

Masha: On my main page, I usually post my artwork and nails, which are not easy to wear in daily life. However, I also do custom press-on nail sets for daily wear. Of course, those designs are also far from what you can see in a regular nail shop or on Pinterest, but still, I adjusted them a lot for daily life. Let's say there is a division between "haute couture" and "ready-to-wear" collections, so Maison Masha is more like a "ready-to-wear" project. I still create many innovative designs there, but that account is dedicated to nails and customers, so they can easily see and choose what they want to order.

GATA: If you weren't doing nails, what other creative world do you think you'd be in?

Masha: I guess I'm not only in the nail art world. I am in my own world. I do modelling, paintings, installations, printing works as zines, and digital images of mid-journeys. I'm just living in my own universe, and everything that I do is an essential part. All of that needs to be in a good balance so my world is growing and shining. When people ask me how a project is going, I feel confused. Honestly, I don't know when I am working or when I am resting; I am just living my life. Poets write poems, and it's their life. I live and do visuals and stuff like that, which is my life.

GATA: What's a dream project you'd love to take on in the future? Fashion collaboration, installation, brand, anything?

Masha: I want to collaborate with Dover Street Market. I really like how they do set design for their corners and how they decorate mannequins or present clothes. But I think their mannequins lack nails, and I feel that my nails would suit them well, haha. I also want to do nails for a fashion week runway show in Paris or do some kind of exhibition/performance in New York. Actually, I have so many things on my mind that the list would be too long. I cannot say that all of these are my dreams, but more like goals. When you call it a dream, it means that you are not sure whether it can happen in the future. I prefer goals, so my brain already sees it as something possible to obtain.

GATA: Lastly, what is something you want to express more of through your work this year?

Masha: I think it's more about what kind of form I want to express my feelings in, rather than something specific that I want to say. Ideas come to me randomly; I don't even know what I'm going to do tomorrow. I work more intuitively because this is how I can stay honest and pure with my art. So, if we speak about the form, I want to develop my visual language and combine different forms that people usually don't see together.

INTERVIEW AND WORDS BY SEUNGHEE RYU

SHARP, RAW, GENTLE: The Gospel According to Masha’s Nails