Japanese nail art enters another dimension thanks to 3D printing

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Japan has an abundance of fun 3D printing projects, such as Fotofig which we featured just recently. And while many such projects are a little off the wall, here’s one that’s more unusual than most. Maayu Co. Ltd. offers a pretty incredible 3D nail printing service, allowing nail art fans to take their finger flair to the next level.

This moko art (moko meaning ‘bump’) service became available on August 12th, and users can order nails by simply submitting a photo of a family member, a significant other, or even a pet. The process uses a soft resin which and takes cues from the shading on the photo to determine the texture and printed contours.

This is an interesting concept, because it’s essentially extrapolating a third dimension from a 2D photo. After that, the face/image is printed on, and some final stage finishing is done by hand.

As you might expect the process isn’t a cheap one, with a price tag of 7800 yen (or about $80) for a single nail. The nails are sent to you by mail, at which point you can sharpen or file them to your liking [1]. To find out more about the process, check out the company’s website (Japanese only).

If you’d like to explore more nail art from Japan, you might check out local startup MiCHI, a company that provides an ecommerce service specializing in nail art. They ship overseas as well, so if you live outside Japan it’s no problem to order.


  1. My nail terminology is lacking here, please forgive me in advance. I don’t use this stuff myself!  ↩