Within only five short years after Luminaire opened on Miracle Mile, the company quickly outgrew the space, and it was time once again to build anew. Designed as a testimonial to modern architecture, the new showroom exhibited two stories of glass windows that allowed viewers from the outside to view the remarkable objects within as they passed by, while giving those on the inside the open space and natural light needed to best encounter Luminaire’s tightly curated modern and contemporary design.
Luminaire hosted a city-wide celebration in the showroom to inaugurate the new space. Pirkko Stenros returned to Miami to introduce the Muurame company and its products to guests, as Finnish designers Antii and Vuokko Nurmesneimi also spoke of their textile work and mingled with guests. Vuokko Nurmesneimi had designed textiles for Marimekko during it’s earlier days, but she left to establish her own company, Vuokko Oy in 1964. Antti was also a pioneer of Finnish design, but saw his greatest professional accomplishment as being able to achieve peace of mind through his work.
Both Stenros and the Nurmesneimis delighted guests with personal stories of their experiences while illustrating how adaptable and personable modern design can be. According to Antti, ”Design is a language of cultural policy that has reached a material form.” In accordance with this idea, the new Coral Gables showroom illustrates that design is a cultural experience, where objects hold the meaning of the social and historical contexts in which they were created.
Thursday, March 1, 1984
