Elia Stampfer: From First Medal To First Exhibition In Paris

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Elia Stampfer is a French nail artist with a qualification in esthetics. She came to nail art looking for a way to bring art and technical skill together, and she found it. To her, nails are true pieces of jewelry, small surfaces that can become canvases for artistic expression. In October 2026, that view took her to her first art exhibition: Beauty is Art, Paris Edition, an international exhibition of beauty art held at HD Contemporary Art Gallery in Paris.

Her path into the field started during her apprenticeship. Her second mentor noticed how quickly she was progressing and encouraged her to specialize in nail art. Soon after, Stampfer discovered international competitions, and they gave her a new goal: to push her limits and keep learning.

The results came quickly. On March 19, 2026, just twelve days after her 19th birthday, she won her first international medal, taking third place in her category at the Nail Beauty Congress & Championship in Serbia. For a young artist at the start of her career, the medal marked an important milestone and confirmed that the direction she had chosen was the right one.

Since then she has competed in the Nailympia World Championships, including events in China, London and Sicily. Between competitions she continues to train at an advanced level. She has refined her skills through the VD Master Cup with Valérie Ducharme and has deepened her knowledge with Doug Schoon, a name well known to professionals in the field.

For Stampfer, nail art is a language. It lets her express what words sometimes cannot convey. She is especially drawn to sculpture, texture and volume, and she prefers to explore the full range of the medium rather than limit herself to a single style. That openness is typical of artists at the beginning of their careers, but in her case it is supported by serious technical training and competition experience in several countries.

Taking part in Beauty is Art carried special meaning for her because it was her very first art exhibition. It gave her the chance to present her work in an artistic setting rather than on a competition table, to share her vision of nail art with a new audience, and to contribute to its recognition as a form of artistic expression. In a gallery, the viewer is not asked to score a technique. They are invited to look, to feel and to interpret.

Her ambitions reach beyond her own results. Stampfer intends to keep progressing toward the highest level of international competition while also sharing what she has learned. She is currently developing her own nail training center, with the goal of helping other professionals grow, supporting their development and contributing to the evolution of the industry.

At an age when many artists are still searching for their direction, she already has a clear one. Her first medal, her international competition experience and now her first exhibition in Paris are the opening steps on that path.

“My journey is only just beginning,” she says.“I want to keep learning, creating and sharing my knowledge while continuing to explore the artistic possibilities of nail art.”

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