Hospitality Design - December 2014 - 46

perspectives

interview tal danai and

adam d. tihany

about your design with the art. It's not a given. It's
not an obvious process because in most processes
art comes at the end. To be able to bring it at such
an early stage and incorporate it into the thinking
process of the design, that's the exception and
that's why I love working with Adam.

How do you ﬁnd the artists that you need
for these types of projects?
TD: The nice thing about working on the

ArtLink@Sotheby's International program with
Sotheby's for so many years is that we operate in
150 art galleries in 44 countries. If you figure how
many students there are in any given four-year
program or master's program wherever they are,
and the faculty members and the alumni, we
have access now to tens of thousands of artists.
Whatever challenge is thrown our way, we have
a group of relevant artists we can address who
can bring their friends or their teachers or their
students to the table as well and give us the ability
to really get interesting answers in return.

In terms of art, what do guests look
for today, and how do you think that's
changed since you both started?
TD: It's very different from one hotel to the

other, from one city to the other, from one type
of guest to the other. When I go to a hotel, I want
to have an experience. I'm not going to have an
experience if all the group that was involved in
developing the hotel was concerned with was
making sure I'm not offended, because that ends
up the blandest you can get.
AT: We operate in a very rarified field of 5-Star
luxury product. The consumer of this product
is a relatively sophisticated and wealthy person
who probably in their home has art or has art
awareness or went to a museum more than
once in their lives. They are people that fully
understand the cultural implication of what it
means to have good art. They may not be able to
judge whether it's good or bad but they certainly
expect that piece of art on the wall because that
shows that you are a sophisticated person. That's

how they were brought up. We owe them respect,
and we owe them the same attention that is being
put into selecting a 400-thread count sheet or a
great faucet for the bathroom or good lighting.
It's got to be the same kind of attention that you
put into what you hang on the walls. It's the same
thought process. All of these things somehow
speak to you.
Art is totally subjective-some people love
it, some people hate it. The arts, that's what
enriches our life. We listen to music, and we look
at paintings. It is part of our DNA. If you are
trying to convey that to somebody, you have to
pay attention. It's not just an afterthought; it's not
just 'OK, let's buy art by the number.' We need to
think this through.
TD: At the end of the day, it's a dialogue and it's
a mutual effort to make sure that we explain why
we think something should be in and something
else shouldn't. hd
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Hospitality Design - December 2014

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