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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nahema-mehta-art-remba-2012-12#ixzz3ghOt1Gpn
Nahema Mehta isn't interested in disrupting the art world, she's set on actively conquering it from within — and her plan is working.
Mehta is the founder of start-up Art Remba, a web-based club that allows members to rent pieces of art from top galleries and artists for their home or office. It's a luxury service, launched in the Spring of 2012, and already cash flow positive.
Art Remba takes its members to see galleries and shows, consults them on what will work well for their taste and space, and handles insuring and transporting any pieces.
Art Remba will even break down talking points about the art members decide to rent. Mehta's clients range from venture fund offices and young art enthusiasts, to seasoned collectors looking to diversify their holdings to new markets (think: Western Art collectors looking for pieces from Latin America).
"We're going after a demographic that the art world always wants to reach, but the secret sauce is making things accessible without losing the gallery feel of exclusivity. That's why it's members only," Mehta told Business Insider.
The idea for Art Remba came from something simple. Mehta, who was educated at Columbia University and Sotheby's' Institute of Art, hates the idea of works of art being locked in storage. Art Remba is an effort to ensure that pieces are always being enjoyed.
To accomplish that, Mehta is working with galleries and artists. She may have found herself in something she calls, "start-up free fall," trading French lessons for HTML training sessions, but Mehta is as Wall Street as she is Silicon Alley. Her Sotheby's master thesis, fo example, was called Trading Art: The Evolution of Art Funds and the Feasibility of Exchange Traded Products for Art — she was valedictorian of her class.
On top of all of that, Mehta is a portfolio manager at Arts India Funds, an investment firm that specializes in diversifying its client's portfolios with precise valuations of art works.
"When people talk about the art market in general, I run away screaming," said Mehta. "People often think they can treat art as any other market, but the art market is illiquid, opaque, and an insiders game."
The combination of art industry insider clout, startup creativity, and a strong background in finance is getting Mehta noticed worldwide. Earlier this year she was speaker at the International Art Industry Forum and also presented Art Remba at the Dublin Web Summit 100 Strong Startup Competition in October.
"There's a lot of glamour in disruption... But I wanted to work with the establishment because if you don't, you don't get established artists," said Mehta, later adding, "I'm a mathematics person. I'm a fund manager, that's what I do."
That's why Art Remba has become a go-to for people looking for an easy, efficient way to enter the world of fine art. Prospective members need only fill out an application that discloses, most importantly, the level of security in their apartment building or office. Dues are a membership fee plus 10%-50% of the value of any works the member is renting at the moment. That money can go toward purchasing the art, which ranges in price from a few thousand to $150,000.
It's an attractive deal, and that's why it's working. Mehta says that won't stop her from continuing her work as a portfolio manager, though... or from sitting on the Asia Society Young Patrons board, or from acting as the Columbia Alumni Association's Ambassador to her native Belgium.
"I will never have made it. There's always something next. I think the second you think you've made it and become complacent, you become blind to opportunities that are out there," said Mehta.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/nahema-mehta-art-remba-2012-12#ixzz3ghP4sVfN
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This Startup Wants To Bring Museum Collections To The Walls Of Your House
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/electric-objects-2014-7#ixzz3ghPIPY8u
Jake Levine, Electric Objects' CEO and founder, started the company as a side project: Levine couldn't find a way to display art on his walls the way he wanted to, so he hacked one together himself.
Less than a year after placing prototypes in 100 homes, and with $1.7 million in funding, Levine and his team have launched a Kickstarter project to bring EO1, the first Electric Objects product, to more walls in more spaces.
The company has a $25,000 goal. For a $299 pledge, you'll receive an EO1, and for $499 you'll receive the beta tester four months early. Electric Objects plans to ship products to all its $299-level Kickstarter backers within nine months.
Here's how it works: When you order EO1, you receive a 23-inch, high-definition screen with an integrated computer, an Android operating system, and a single cord. It comes with a custom white or black frame. You use the Electric Objects mobile app locations to control what art appears on the screen, but you never interact directly with the screen itself, because it's not meant to be like a tablet, a phone, or a television.
Jake Levine Electric ObjectsBusiness Insider/Maya KosoffJake Levine, CEO and founder of Electric Objects
The way Levine puts it, Electric Objects is "an exploration of a different kind of computing," bringing together the high-tech world and the fine art world.
"Right now you use a computer for connectivity or entertainment. It's interesting to explore something that's a little more ambient and peripheral, something that doesn't demand your attention," he said. "We feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff coming out of our computers. Hopefully this kind of computing is a more peaceful experience."
You can hang your EO1 on a wall, or you can buy a stand for it. Electric Objects is working with artists and partners like the Museum of the Moving Image and the New York Public Library to create custom collections for the device. Users will be able to peruse the art collections through "an App Store for art," where artists can sell work either one piece at a time, or on a subscription basis to curate a show.
"The partners we choose to work with—museums, publishers, galleries, universities, libraries—are places that have amazing works of art in their collection but no way to get it out in the world in a meaningful, long-lasting way," Levine said.
Electric Objects prototypeElectric Objects
EO1 users can see what their friends are collecting, purchasing, and displaying — and as a result, Levine said, a community and a social network have emerged.
"It's this vibrant community of people who have experienced what it's like to have a digital object on their wall for more than 10 seconds," he said.
The tricky part for Levine and his team is navigating Electric Objects' audience, which is a mix of early tech adopters and art people.
"There's some overlap, but generally when you think of fine art and you think of high tech, they're very far away," he said. "The good news is that we're not trying to reach a million people tomorrow; we're trying to reach the next thousand or ten thousand who occupy this interesting space between software and art. We're not a tech startup building tech products. We're an art project."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/electric-objects-2014-7#ixzz3ghPdsLiE
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