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Mariam Naficy is co-founder and CEO of AI product creation platform Arcade, and previously founded and led creative goods marketplace Minted.
How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in retail? I founded a company named Arcade, a product creation platform where if you can dream it, you can have it. I connect creatively inspired shoppers with high-quality makers, and use AI to enable them to communicate via images. Consumers can use Arcade to customize or create their dream products and purchase them instantly.
One thing we can’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? It’s probably not clear how immersed I am in technology in my day-to-day life right now, much more so than when I was running Minted. I feel like I live in two completely different worlds. One minute, I’m on a call with an interior designer and we’re talking about how to create merchandise and bring it to market. And the next minute, I’m working closely with our AI team to brainstorm a pipeline that will solve an image generation problem, writing prompt appends that generate better outputs, or networking with engineers to learn about research papers or models we should know about. I’m living in a back and forth between the world of design and the cutting-edge application of AI to consumer experiences.
What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? My favorite project has been working on our artist models. Through a partnership with Minted, I partnered with artists that I knew from my Minted days, and with their permission, carefully trained models on their work. I curated the training data myself and created prompt appends to coax out the best outputs. It’s a fun intersection of using your merchant brain and then working with AI technologies to make sure beautiful design materializes.
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Which emerging retail trend are you most excited about right now, and why? Customization. With the advent of AI, it’s never been more possible to democratize customization for everyone—whether they think they have any design capabilities or not! With Arcade, we are bringing customized rugs and other home goods into the realm of affordability for customers.
What’s your go-to coffee order? Lavender latte.
Worst piece of advice you’ve received? “Stick to the original business plan.”
What was your favorite retail product when you were 15, and what’s your favorite retail product now? When I wasn’t studying, I would hang out in malls or shops in the Washington, D.C., area at 15—I was obsessed with fashion. I loved Commander Salamander in Georgetown, and I loved Benetton—the sweaters were such high quality. I loved going into the stores and seeing all the colors and touching the wool. The favorite Benetton product I bought was a celadon green cardigan with silver buttons…My favorite retail product today has to be Bitossi, the cult classic Italian ceramic art house. I was recently able to tour the 100-year-old archive of their work in Florence—it was a real honor. I recently ordered a custom Bitossi piece through Arcade for my home. It’s an abstract figure of a man on a horse and it captures the 1970s inspiration behind our interiors.