Mariam Naficy, CEO of the online art marketplace Minted, likes to surround herself with beautiful things. Her Napa Valley home, which she shares with husband and Minted colleague Michael Mader, features artwork from around the world: everything from original paintings and antique African sculptures to Naficy’s own beloved record collection.
Her love of art inspired Naficy to found Minted as a platform for art retailers. To achieve this, Minted crowdsources independent designs from artists in over 100 countries. Many of the works displayed in Naficy’s home came from Minted artists.
Minted has recently moved into the digital art frontier by partnering with Samsung. This partnership brings virtual artwork by subscription to consumer television screens. Samsung’s The Frame TV now features digital art curated by Minted.
How Mariam Naficy Became an Entrepreneur
While Naficy thrives as an entrepreneur and CEO, she never even considered entering the world of business until well after college. “I was not the child selling lemonade,” she explains. “I didn’t know anything about business growing up.” The “impulse to start something,” as she describes it, did not start until after her two years at Goldman Sachs and two years in management.
But once at Stanford Business School, Naficy found her niche. “The result of going to business school was that I ended up in a very rich environment, where although not everyone was thinking entrepreneurship, everyone was thinking about innovation,” she reflects.
After graduating in 1998, Naficy quickly became an early mogul in the world of e-commerce and online marketing. Her first project, a cosmetics company called Eve, eventually sold for $110 million. After then directing The Body Shop’s online sales operation, she chose to monetize her love of art and founded Minted.
“Silicon Valley’s answer to creating jobs is to make everyone a coder,” she quips. “Not everybody wants to be a coder, and you can get a lot out of just actually helping some people be artists.”
How Mariam Naficy Spots New Opportunities
Naficy has an eye for opportunity. Minted began by simply selling and crowdsourcing stationary. But the company quickly found ways to tap into growing markets for online artisan products.
“It became clear soon that this was a valuable, talented community,” Naficy recalls. “I realized that we had tapped into something a lot bigger. They could produce art and design work for many, many industries and businesses. It wasn’t really just a stationery company that we’d created.”
As Minted quickly grew to service new industries like holiday cards to wedding invitations, Naficy saw room for further growth. While her company began as a simple resource for designing stationary, it soon expanded into a market for home décor and commissioned art.
This latest partnership, with Samsung, moves Minted further into the digital realm. The partnership allows customers to subscribe to Minted artwork, displayed directly on their HD Samsung television.
“Minted’s mission is to make the work of the best independent artists in the world accessible to people everywhere,” Naficy explains. “Partnering with Samsung’s The Frame TV allows us to deliver art to those who prefer a technology-centric way of decorating their walls.”
Global Art Inspires Naficy
Born to a Chinese mother and Iranian father who worked for the United Nations, Naficy developed an early appreciation for the art and design of different cultures. In fact, she grew up in five countries, straddling the US, Africa, and the Middle East.
Today she surrounds herself with a wide range of global art, from Scandinavian minimalism to ancient Chinese patterns. “A lot of things in my house are collected from Tanzania, Morocco, and Sweden,” Naficy notes, adding: “I love going to Paris flea markets, and I recently found a great store in Tanzania filled with antique African sculptures.”
In Minted, Naficy found a way to combine her passions: business and art. That entrepreneurial passion for creativity also bleeds into her home life. Thanks to Minted’s new partnership with Samsung, Naficy’s artist touch is coming to homes around the world.
