A few months after RI Inno spoke to Moss Pure founder and CEO Jamie Mitri in 2022, things got incredibly busy. She was featured in several regional and national publications, including Forbes and Medium, and the uptick in press led to a boom in business. To top it off, one of Mitri’s first products to be developed, the Moss Mini, was recently featured on Oprah’s 2023 graduation gift guide.
Now, she said, the small Smithfield, Rhode Island–based company is working with luxury hotels, community groups and private customers to deliver the living artwork around the world.
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Mitri launched Moss Pure after winning the MIT startup Lebanon competition in 2020 and now sells the natural art on her site as well as through the Massachusetts-based online retailer Wayfair.
Mitri said Moss Pure is also supplying products as a VIP gift at a popular Hollywood event in Los Angeles next month.
“We have back-to-back bulk orders from all over the US. We had a luxury hotel purchase for the Minis and they are looking at purchasing in bulk for their additional hotel and restaurants,” she said. “We also just created a massive custom moss wall for a customer’s bathroom in Chicago. The customer wanted to bring nature to her space and create a glam, luxe vibe at the same time.”
Mitri said many Moss Pure customers make their own moss wall from using the Moss Pure 11-by-14-inch or 12-by-12-inch frames. Additionally, she said, Moss Pure is now working with a Youth Center in Minnesota who are using 22 of the 11”x14” moss frames to create their own living wall.
Mitri created the Minis at the 2020 MIT startup competition, along with the rest of the company’s products, including the moss wall frames. The first place win allowed her to connect with hundreds of customers worldwide so she could test Moss Pure’s aesthetic and product development with, she said. The company’s biggest sellers are currently the wall frames, but Mitri said the Minis provide a fun tabletop alternative that could be used anywhere.
“We also had them tested in a certified laboratory for air quality, and the Minis were successful in filtering out 30% of CO2 and harmful pollutants within 2 minutes. So, not only are they a stunning décor piece, but they will also improve your air quality using Moss Pure’s science,” she said.
As the business expands, Mitri said they’ve taken on larger custom walls for businesses and office spaces, which require more engineering and skillset to complete.
“The custom requests are always an amazing challenge — especially since we are not just putting live moss on a frame,” she said. “We have a two-step process in creating all of the products, where we build out the science and air filter first, and then use fashion and interior design to create the aesthetically pleasing décor piece. So, it’s a challenge to translate our science into custom designs but we always are up for a creative and unique opportunity.”
Recently, Mitri teamed up with another MIT alum, ChopValue, to create a piece for Dan Goodman, Co-Founder of Building36 in Needham, Massachusetts. Moss Pure created custom live moss frames made from recycled chopsticks from Boston-area restaurants. Using ChopValue's recycled chopstick frames, a total of eight live moss frames were created for Building36's office. Subsequently, Moss Pure added the recycled chopstick frame, which uses upwards of 700 recycled chopsticks depending on frame size, to their store.
