As mentioned, your portfolio includes only high-end projects? What attributes do you attribute to the term "luxury"? 

To us, luxury means an attention to detail comparable to that required when designing a tailored dress. Indubitably, there are different elements needed to compose the picture, such as the use of high quality materials and the integration with the art world, but what allows us to attribute the word luxury to a project is the time it takes for its customization. In fact, looking at our projects you immediately notice how each one is different from the other, beyond Tihany Design’s signature stylist code – which is necessarily transversal to each work. Consequently, this means starting from the beginning with each project in order to satisfy the new customer’s requests. 

What are today the essential themes that every project must consider in order to be sucessful? 

The ultimate purpose of each project, we must admit, is to generate revenue. Therefore, if the project is successful for the client, automatically it is successful for the designer. On an aesthetic level it is also essential to build a strong narrative for the project. This allows us to conceive space for a specific vision, to draw a red thread that links and gives coherence to what we do. When it comes to brands, this narrative can be linked to the history of the brand, to its imagery and values. Similarly, when it comes to a private client then returns the already discussed theme of customization.

Among Tihany Design's latest projects, which ones best convey your current narration?

Among the projects that best communicate the kind of sensitivity towards which the studio is now focused,  I would cite Seabourn Venture, the newest line of expedition vessels designed in partnership with Seabourn. These are rather small and all-suite ships, equipped with about 150 cabins, which from a design point of view require a truly unique approach that I believe will mark a new target in the world of luxury naval design. The materiality typical of cruises has in fact encountered that of a mountain resort, resulting in an aesthetic that recalls the environment of the northern seas and glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic Circle, where these ships are directed.

As for the restaurant sector, we are completing a winery in Hungary endowed with a very spectacular architecture. We are also due to complete a bistro for chef Thomas Keller, a continuous collaboration and tradition with Tihany Design. Finally, a couple of years ago the Mandarin Oriental in Istanbul on the Bosphorus was inaugurated, a project did not receive the publicity it deserved as it opened during the pandemic.

What are the main inspiration sources for you? What images compose you mood boards? 

Inspiration, for me, stems from a place where the project is located, regardless of its nature. When it comes to a restaurant, the initial theme is often the chef’s cuisine, as it is the canvas where he exposes his palette of dishes. Other times the inspiration comes from a musical text, a piece of literature, a work of art or a local artist. We always try to broaden our vision as much as possible. For instance, in the case of the Mandarin Oriental in Istanbul, the façade design has been subtly translated into significant elements for the history of a city that lives between the East and the West. We have studied in particular a weaving technique that can be found in some decorative elements. Then, certain details of traditional clothing have become large-scale architectural elements, so that there is a story being told through them. In essence, this is how we operate. As for the images that constitute our mood boards, these sometimes come from our projects, other times they are compositions of multiple pictures that, when put in dialogue, craft our vision. This is our tailor-made method, in which we always try to combine our history with that of someone or something else.