The First Apartment

Medium: Acrylic on canvas | Dimensions: 46 x 66 cm

In The First Apartment, the floor plan of a founder’s first home becomes the foundation of the work. His experience of navigating the home-buying process alone, handling paperwork, decisions, and uncertainty – led directly to the creation of a platform that helps first-time buyers purchase without an agent.

The painting captures that origin point. The apartment is not just a space, but the starting structure behind the business – a clear link between lived experience and the system built to improve it.

Status: Commissioned — private collection (founder, US).

We marked a big milestone for our startup this year, and to commemorate it I commissioned an art piece through For The Record. Working with Niya was genuinely a great experience. She spent the first sessions simply listening, asking thoughtful questions about our team, our journey, and what this moment represented. She came back with a few different concepts and kept refining them, pushing the work in ways I didn’t expect. The final piece captures the roots and vision of our company better than I could’ve imagined. I love how personal it is. It’s now found a special place in our office, and everyone loves it. If you want an artist who truly invests in understanding your story and translating it into something meaningful, I’d highly recommend working with Niya!

Ella & Jerry / NJ, USA