Nail me! Wallpaper* Handmade’s monolithic Nail Bar pops up in London

It might have been the only time Milan’s well-heeled design circle has witnessed a flock of men so eager for a (painted!) manicure, but such was the finger frenzy evoked by the debut of our ‘Nail me!’ bar at this year’s Wallpaper* Handmade exhibition.

But if you didn’t make it to the Salone del Mobile, we’re offering the chance to indulge in the ultimate nail at skincare and fragrance brand Haeckels’ pop-up store at the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch, where our marble nail salon has found a fleeting home during the London Design Festival.

One year in the making, the project stems from a conversation with artist Lexi Shu and designer Sacha Leong. The idea was to make a nail-salon counter inspired by a bar, tapering it back to the essentials and introducing bold new materials and aesthetics to the beauty salon desk.

To wit, we tasked Swedish architect Andreas Bozarth Fornell to bring the concept to life, developing a monolithic bar in duke white marble, complete with a set of traditional stools, all carved by marble manufacturer Testi.

The more the merrier at this grooming fest, so we enlisted the help of a few friends. Our latest nail menu dishes up creations by Philippe Malouin (a striking terrazzo print) and Fabien Cappello (a stylised two-tone woodgrain composition), delivered by nail technicians Dry By London and polish from Nails Inc. An ombré combination of Wallpaper* Blue - our very own signature shade developed with paper experts James Cropper - and a bottle green hue inspired by Margate-based Haeckels’ links to the sea, is also in the mix. Now that’s what we call lending a helping hand.