Our story and team

All creative work tells a story. Any collection, from jewelry to accessories, represents a chapter in a designer’s larger work. With each chapter, the designer’s story unfolds to convey his vision and inspiration.

Boticca was born out of one of those inspired moments. On a trip to Marrakesh, one of our founders came across Mariam, a jewelry designer. As he talked to Mariam in the crowded Medina, he discovered that there was more to her exceptionally exquisite jewelry than just beauty; it also had meaning and a story.

Mariam told of how she had first sold her work in the Atlas Mountains to the women in her village. Her creations were so popular that she decided to travel to Marrakesh three times a week to sell them to tourists. Inspired by her unique story, we were frustrated that only a few lucky people would get to experience Mariam’s pieces on their travels. We wanted to change that, and this is how Boticca came to be.

Our Team

Our team comes from all over the world, and brings a vast range of operational experience and fashion expertise from previous roles at leading luxury lifestyle brands, e-commerce sites and financial institutions.

Everyone brings a unique appreciation of beauty and approach to style from our Italian style hunter Chiara, who designed and created costumes for the National Opera in Rome; Eva, our Slovakian graphic designer who has worked for numerous Fashion magazines; Ben, our British web designer and developer who comes from the leading European online fashion retailer; Giacomo, our senior backend developer who hails from Italy and Djamila, our French backend developer.

We wanted to build a team where everyone brings a unique story and perspective - just like our designers.

We hope you enjoy your journey on Boticca!

Kiyan and Avid
Co-founders

Kiyan Foroughi - CEO and co-founder

Kiyan is the third generation in his family to work in the jewelry and luxury industry, starting with his grandfather - an avid gemologist - who was an agent for luxury brands Cartier and Piaget. Prior to launching Boticca, he worked as an investment professional at TA Associates, a major global private equity firm based in London, where he sourced and executed many of the firm’s investments in the Internet sector in Europe, including a leading online retailer of fashion and lifestyle apparel. Prior to TA, Kiyan was an investment banker at Jefferies in New York in the technology group, where he advised on 11 completed mergers and acquisitions worth over a combined $1 billion in value and was the firm’s youngest ever Fairness Opinion Specialist.

Kiyan has a BA in Economics from Tufts University in Boston. He grew up in Paris and Dubai and has lived in Boston, New York and London. Kiyan is fluent in English, French and Farsi and conversant in Italian.

Avid Larizadeh - COO and co-founder

Before co-founding Boticca, Avid worked in Paris alongside the CEO and founder of Altavia, an independent global marketing communications group specialized in retail businesses. Prior to that she was at Accel Partners in London where she focused primarily on software and Internet investments. Avid has strong product management experience from four years working at eBay in Silicon Valley, and she also has worked at a number of start-ups, including Skype (acquired by eBay) and Tellme Networks (acquired by Microsoft).

Avid earned her BS and MS in engineering at Stanford University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. She grew up in Paris and has lived in San Francisco, Boston and London. Avid speaks French, Farsi, English and German.