Top 200 Collectors

Sasan Ghandehari runs the venture-capital side of a real-estate empire started by his property tycoon mother, Hourieh Peramam, who was born in Kazakhstan but left at the age of 17, walking to an Iranian refugee camp by foot. After marrying Sasan’s father, a wealthy Iranian doctor, she officially kicked off her real-estate business with the purchase of a house next door. 

Sasan’s wife, interior designer Yassmin Ghandehari, who was born in Tehran looks after her mother-in-law’s diverse real-estate portfolio. She has sat on the council of the University of the Arts London, and is currently also a member of the International Council for the auction house Sotheby’s. She was also a founding member of the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Trust. In 2018, Vanity Fair ranked her on its annual “Best Dressed” list. 

In 2010, the Ghandeharis celebrated Peramam’s purchase of one of London’s most expensive properties—a 30,000-square-foot building newly renamed Royal Mansion—with a party attended by Mikhail Gorbachev. Yassmin’s name has been spotted on the list of wealthy patrons who regularly give more than £10,000 (nearly $13,000) a year to the Tate. 

The Ghandeharis’ collection focuses strongly on Impressionism, and postwar and contemporary art. The 2019 edition of Frieze London opened with an event co-hosted by the Ghandeharis and ARTnews. The event was attended by numerous leading collectors and distinguished guests including artist and designer Ron Arad, Swiss businessman and fellow Top 200 collector Uli Sigg, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac senior global director Julia Peyton-Jones, Hayward Gallery director and 2019 Venice Biennale curator Ralph Rugoff, and Hong Kong–based jeweler Wallace Chan.