Q3Q Community

I first met Wawa, the artist behind Rosemary Select and founder of Q3Q, at an art event where she was presenting her nail art. I was immediately drawn to both her work and her personality, and started following what she was doing afterwards.

During the COVID pandemic, Wawa spent much of her time refining her nail art skills and eventually decided to turn that passion into a career. But for her, nails quickly became more than a beauty service. She began experimenting with them as a form of visual art, collaborating with other artists and incorporating her designs into performances.

That approach eventually led her to create Q3Q, a small shared studio on Charoen Nakhon 28, in Khlong San. Rather than working there alone, Wawa opened the space to other young creatives, including three other nail artists and a tattoo artist. Her idea was simple: by working together and sharing a space, they could help each other grow and gradually build a wider community around what they do.

When I visited Q3Q, I also met Shampoo and Pin, two young artists who had pushed nail art into their academic work. Pin showed me her thesis project, in which nails were inspired by tears. It was interesting to see something usually associated with beauty and decoration being treated instead as a medium for personal and artistic expression. Shampoo, on the other hand, took me outside for her portrait because she wanted a bit of colour in her series.

For the last shot of the series, Wawa sat with Shampoo while, behind them, a client was being tattooed. I feel this picture represents what I liked most about Q3Q: how naturally it had become a place for different artists to work and grow together.