Meeting... Adam D. Tihany

Furniture

As hospitality’s renaissance man prepares to launch new projects on land and sea, Sleeper sits down with the Tihany Design founder to talk problem solving and practicing what you preach.

Words: Kristofer Thomas • Photography: Courtesy of Tihany Design

As the boundaries between previously separate elements of hospitality design continue to blur, there may be few designers better placed to define this increasingly borderless landscape than Adam D. Tihany.

In recent years we’ve seen the traditional hospitality model absorb and coalesce elements of F&B, transport, retail, culture and more, with many designers forced to eschew a niche or specialist approach in favour of a broader philosophy – one that can be adapted to the growing number of hybridisations accelerating into the mainstream.

But in Tihany’s case, there was little readjustment required; by the time this flexible template had become required reading for a generation of emerging hospitality firms, the Romanian-born, New York-based designer had already established himself as an influential creative presence across multiple sectors.

He may be known to many as the father of restaurant design, though as his career has progressed, Tihany’s journey through the design world could perhaps come to be characterised more by the diversity of his contributions as opposed to his achievements in one single area.

Speaking to Sleeper from his New York home during lockdown, Tihany explains that his interest in pursuing projects across multiple mediums could stem from the manner in which he arrived at a career in design in the first place. Having relocated to Jerusalem as a child, Tihany completed a stint of mandatory military service at the age of 21 and sought a way to leave the country and start afresh.

“At the time, the only place I found accepting Israeli students on scholarships was Italy, and the two faculties were veterinary medicine in Bologna and architecture in Milan,” he explains. “My entire knowledge of architecture at the time was that I knew I did not want to be a veterinarian.”

Travelling to Italy, Tihany began working as an apprentice in a Milan design office in 1969. With the country’s economy beginning to stagnate, practices found themselves taking on projects across interior, graphic, packaging, product and furniture disciplines. “Everybody was doing everything they could to survive,” he remembers. “I learned that design in Italy was a solution to a problem – not anything specific – and I still see it like that. I learned the profession through the backdoor, but it was very holistic.”

The Breakers Palm Beach’s lobby features a vibrant, custom-designed Sacco carpet in full bloom amidst the Renaissance architecture

Gleaning a broader perspective of design by avoiding the potential limits of specialist training, Tihany developed a big picture view of the medium – one that would go on to allow his seamless moves between sectors. It held design as something fluid, but ultimately driven and united by the factor of problem solving. “I’m a problem solver, I like solving problems,” he explains. “Finding a solution to a problem noone else can, or even finding a better solution to a problem someone has already solved; I didn’t know this was my calling at the time, but that’s what I’ve come to realise.”

In 1974, he crossed the Atlantic for New York, before stepping out alone and setting up Tihany Design in 1978. In the States however, he discovered that the industry wasn’t quite ready for a renaissance man. “It was definitely a problem. When people asked what I do I’d tell them I designed; give me a problem and I’ll give you a solution,” he remembers. “It didn’t go down too well, because at the time in America it was expected that you specialise in something, otherwise people wouldn’t trust you; the brain surgeon looks after the brain, the knee surgeon looks after the knee – you couldn’t possibly operate on them both at the same time!”

Reluctant to pigeonhole himself as a specific something-designer, Tihany admits those early years were a struggle, both in terms of defining himself as a designer and in winning projects. Then, like many other great New York stories of the era, a chance meeting at Studio 54 kicked off a new chapter. Talking to the man seated next to him, Tihany was asked whether he was a designer, and then whether he would want to design a restaurant. “I said, I will design anything you want,” he notes.

By coincidence, this new friend turned out to be restaurateur Jean De Noyer, who was in the process of bringing Paris’ legendary La Coupole to the Big Apple as license holder.

“I ended up designing everything,” Tihany recalls. “From architecture to planning to furniture to menus to uniforms and chandeliers

“Finding a solution to a problem no one else can, or even finding a better solution to a problem someone has already solved; I didn’t know this was my calling at the time, but it’s what I’ve come to realise. ”

– everything. I didn’t know much about F&B design at the time, so we went to Paris and researched, but the important thing was being in charge of everything. I realised I could do all this different design in this little microcosm of restaurants – here I can be Italian, I can be my factotum. I could do what I always wanted.”

The opening was a hit, with lines around the block despite a snowstorm. The legend goes that Andy Warhol couldn’t get in, which only served to boost the story as La Coupole kicked off something of a restaurant revolution for the next decade. Naturally, operators sought to replicate the project’s success, turning to Tihany for design direction.

Thus, the multi-disciplinary practice Tihany Design made its name with a series of acclaimed F&B venues, establishing its founder as the nation’s preeminent restaurant designer. During this time, the studio’s rise intersected with an increased focus on F&B within hotels, leading naturally to work with operators keen to draw locals in with distinctive culinary experiences whilst retaining their own guests in the process.

“I met a lot of interesting and creative people during this time, but right from the start I made it about them – the owner and the chef and the hotelier – more than me,” he emphasises. “It’s not about my ego – I need to make these guys look good.”

Realising that his broad, all-encompassing approach could help them look good beyond F&B spaces, Tihany took to applying his efforts to other areas. Following his work designing three F&B venues at Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach, the brand entrusted him to oversee the entirety of its follow up, Four Seasons DIFC in the city’s Financial Centre. During this time, his portfolio grew to include a renovation of the Mandarin Oriental Geneva’s entire ground floor, guestrooms and a spa for One & Only Cape Town, and a restoration of The Dorchester Collection’s Beverly Hills Hotel. He has reunited with Mandarin Oriental for the group’s upcoming properties in Istanbul and Riyadh, both opening in 2020.

Perhaps the most succinct example of Tihany’s hotel work, however, can be found in The Breakers Resort Palm Beach – a 538-key Renaissance-style beach property on Florida’s east coast. Originally built in 1896, Tihany began a collaboration with the owners in 2013 with a reimagining of its restaurant and bar, which extended into guiding the redesigns of its lounges, suites and guestrooms as consultants to interiors studio Peacock+Lewis. Tihany continues to work closely with the owners to tweak and refine the property over nearly a decade later, allowing him to incorporate new ideas and give guests a window into his ongoing process. Most recently, the hotel’s lobby was refreshed with a vibrant Sacco-manufactured bespoke carpet that lets loose bursts of floral colour amidst the Renaissance architecture.

He notes that the long-term vision he has

“Being a designer makes you sharper; cruise ship design is all about creating spaces with absolute surgical precision.”

The classically-styled Churchill Bar at Four Seasons DIFC is defined by curved walls, rich wood millwork and antique materials

been able to exercise within the project has benefitted its overall success. “It’s like a successful marriage – it transforms and changes but there’s always an understanding of who is behind me – who is supporting it,” he says. “Each side begins to appreciate that the other is prepared to invest constantly and work hard to maintain a level of excellence, whilst also wanting to move the dial and keep things moving. It’s extremely gratifying to associate yourself with properties in this way – not just from a business or creative standpoint, but because in this case we were fortunate enough that it evolved into a friendship.”

Ever since, Tihany has been keen to reunite with previous collaborators, exploring further in the hotel market with Mandarin Oriental but also the cruise sector – the third and current phase of his career – partnering twice with Holland America Line and Seabourn, and taking up the Creative Director position for Costa Cruises, from where he’ll guide the design direction for upcoming launches. For Costa, Tihany kicked things off with a statement of intent; the world’s first onboard design museum in Costa Smeralda’s CoDe – a celebration of the Italian aesthetic legacy that proved so influential all those years ago. In some ways, his move into cruises perfectly exemplifies the blurring lines that have allowed him to jump freely between mediums; his first project a two-level dining room aboard 2008’s Celebrity Solstice.

“The cruise customer today expects all the latest trends and innovations. They are informed, they have Instagram, and they read about and recognise good design,” he explains. “Being a designer makes you sharper; cruise ship design is all about creating spaces with absolute surgical precision, and working within very specific limits, but again, it all goes back to problem solving.”

Whilst ongoing ventures across multiple sectors and continents – as well as endeavors into the products sphere with Tihany Product Design – might sound like the job for a largescale, multi-nation firm, Tihany has opted to

Costa Smeralda’s CoDe is the world’s first design museum at sea, celebrating the Italian line’s national heritage with a showcase of classic design pieces

keep things intimate and practical during the growth of his eponymous studio.

“To me, having a successful business was doing what I love to do, and the formula called for no more than 15 people.” It has been an achievement in itself to maintain the studio’s consistent rise with this relatively small team, though has ultimately afforded them greater control of projects they take on, in both type and creative direction.

On developing his designers, he stresses: “One thing is to practice, and the other is to preach – so for a while I had a rule; every designer who wanted to work for me had to spend at least one day a month at the restaurant, doing whatever is in your capacity. You need to know what it means to work the profession, not just design for it. After a while, restaurant design clients especially began to see you more as a colleague than a designer, which is a really pivotal moment.”

Tihany himself was co-owner of New York Midtown spot Remi for 25 years, practicing as he preached; finishing design work at 6pm to head down to the kitchen and work the floor. “To this day, people on the Upper East Side still stop me in the street to tell me they’re going to Remi,” he smirks. “They have no idea about the design.”

Speaking of the firm’s future, Tihany explains he recently made one of the biggest steps of his career, not in any specific project or design, but appointing a new Managing Partner in Alessia Genova – a designer with the firm for 15 years, now identified as heir apparent.

For now, he looks forward to getting back on a plane, first and foremost – “for the last three years, I’ve been on a plane every two weeks; it’s a nice break, but I would like my freedom back” – and preparing to launch, open or set sail a number of projects across land and sea; a fitting position for a man who set out with the goal of never being classified.