<![CDATA[Jennifer Arellano examines how Luminaire co-founders Nasir and Nargis Kassamali are designing a unique cure for cancer in the Fall 2017 edition of One Life Magazine.Read the full article below, and check out theentire issueonline.
Everlasting LovebyJennifer Arellano
When Nargis Kassamali was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 37, her first instinct was to crawl underneath the blankets. Thats it, Im gone, she thought. After that, an even stronger thought took holdat the time, she and her husband, Nasir, had two sons in elementary school. When you have young children, you fight for everything, she says. The cancer returned four more times, until Nargis had a mastectomy a decade ago. Today, shes in good healthbetter than me, says her husband with a laugh. Shes a tough cookie. Nargis harrowing experience inspired the couple to raise funds for cancer research through a medium they know well: design auctions. The Kassamalis founded renowned Miami-based design retailer Luminaire 43 years ago and have since devoted their lives to good design, paving the way for international furnishings to be directly available to American consumers and fostering design education through a local lecture series with art-world superstars such as Philippe Starck and Massimo and Lella Vignelli. Aside from becoming the focus of their professional lives, design is what first brought the couple together. The Kassamalis, who celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this summer, met at the University of Nairobi, where Nasir was beginning her studies in commerce and Nasir was finishing his electrical engineering degree. I had my eye on him before he even looked at me, Nargis says. They discovered a shared love of Danish design and went to Denmark as exchange students in 1970. Later, when they were deciding on a philanthropy to support, the Kassamalis chose the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine to receive all proceeds from their fundraising efforts. But first, they needed to convince the medical schools dean (who is now a dear friend) that design auctions could raise enough money to fund cancer research. Nasir remembers the first time the university staff met him. I was dressed all in black and Nargis was wearing Yohji Yamamoto, and they looked at us like we were from another planet, he says. The dean and his staff were accustomed to the idea that fundraisers meant hotel galas and expensive lottery tickets. We were talking about doing something radically different, Nasir says. Though the doctors were skeptical, the Kassamalis were determined.
In 2006, Nargis and Nasir launched the Love series to bring their fundraising vision to fruition through events involving public art exhibitions and auctions. The first event in the series, called PuppyLove, was inspired by Finnish designer Eero Aarnios plastic puppy figures. Thirty-six designers and architects submitted their interpretations of Aarnios puppies for a live auction, fetching more than $450,000 for cancer research. Three more auctions followed, each with their own theme. In 2008, PaperLove spotlighted Asian architecture and design. Paper is such an irreverent material in the West. In Tokyo, you can find a whole store that sells paper, Nasir says. This second edition of the series exhibited during Art Basel Miami Beach and Design Miami, attracting two Issey Miyake pieces, a Zaha Hadid visual drawing and Massimo Vignellis original rendering for the New York City subway. The third edition, DesignLove, was held in 2011 and produced in collaboration with French design magazine Intramuros, which donated more than 90 original DuPont Corian pieces that were exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and at one of Luminaires showrooms in Miami, Luminaire Lab. The most recent series, GlasLove, was held during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October 2016. Glass is characterized by the duality of its strong yet fragile nature. Poetically and metaphorically, glass reflects the spirit of those battling cancer, reads Luminaires auction page for the event. Though Hurricane Matthew thwarted the Kassamalis plans to exhibit 40 glass works in the Miami Design District, the couple instead held an online auction. Several pieces are still available at luminaire.com/glaslove. So far, the Love series has raised more than $1 million for the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. For their fifth edition, the Kassamalis want to go bigger and bolder. Nasir is keeping mum on the next materials theme but says the couple plans to make the initial exhibition a traveling one. The Kassamalis are grateful for the enormous response and support theyve received from the international design community; Nasir is especially touched by the designers whove donated pieces. When a young designer looks at these pieces, theyre [practically] given a years worth of visual training. When you buy something, you also get the thought process with it, which is priceless, he says. Thats the whole thing about dreamingWe are human and we have the capacity to dream, but very few of us are able to express it.
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