Top Interior Designer | Adam D. Tihany

Though born in Transylvania and raised in Jerusalem by Hungarian-immigrant parents, Adam D. Tihany considers himself a quintessentially Italian designer. And that’s less of a paradox than you might think: While Tihany’s roots lie in other corners of the world, he credits his immersive schooling in 1960s Milan (and the create-it-all—packaging to product—culture that pervaded Italy in that era) for his comprehensive approach to interior design. The result is the gorgeously crafted, seductively luxurious work displayed in his new monograph, Tihany: Iconic Hotel and Restaurant Interiors.

Take Tihany’s first restaurant commission, La Coupole, which opened in New York City in 1981, modeled after the 1927 Parisian original. “I did the interiors, I designed the furniture, the uniforms, I selected the graphics, everything,” writes Tihany. “I was Italian!”

At the Westin Chosun hotel in Seoul, South Korea, a lobby paneled in dark, locally sourced wood is set off against floors of high-gloss, alabaster marble, evoking traditional Korean construction without the chinoiserie and stuffy overexuberance of spaces angling for an East-meets-West aesthetic. For luxe restaurant At.mosphere, on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building), in Dubai, Tihany offset the potential vertigo of dining so far above terra firma with a comfortable, loungelike space marked by curved walls and velvet, silk, and leather upholstery.

Tihany’s upcoming work—like the outfit of a ship’s staterooms, public spaces, and restaurants for luxury cruise operator Seabourn, slated for 2016—is sure to keep this leave-no-detail-unexamined spirit alive.