01About

Botond Ferenczy

A graphic designer by training who now designs whole interiors. To see how Boti thinks, start with the house he designed for his own family in Cluj.

Open kitchen, dining and living space in the Ferenczy house: a long wooden table, a deep blue sofa, warm wood walls, plants and framed prints — The Ferenczy houseCluj-Napoca. Open kitchen, dining and livingPhoto: Biró István

02Principles

Three rules, no exceptions

A floating oak shelf on a navy wall with striped ceramic vases, books and small figures

Simplicity

Clean lines, nothing added for its own sake. Bauhaus and modernism run through every room, from the joinery to the lamps.

Botond Ferenczy leaning on the oak kitchen island with its copper inlay

Honest materials

The kitchen island is oak with a raw copper inlay, sanded but never lacquered. It is meant to show every year the family spends around it.

The living room with a large deep blue sofa, a low wooden coffee table and tall windows

Functional spaces

The island, the dining table and the sofa are three gathering points, placed so a full house of friends can talk across one open room.

03The house

Room by room

Gyöngyi pouring a drink at the kitchen island while Botond stands by the window

01Kitchen
The island Boti designed is where the family and their friends end up. His wife Gyöngyi shaped the house with him; the forms and colours are mostly his.

02Dining
Solid wood and steel, about 700 kg. The second of the three gathering points.

The long dining table with a small orange lamp and a vase of peonies in front of framed prints

Two orange glass globe lamps glowing in front of a large framed print and a monstera leaf

A sculptural red glass lamp on a side table by a window overlooking hills

03Light
Boti collects lamps, and the light they throw matters as much as the lamp itself. Chairs are the other collection.

04Bathrooms
The rooms where he plays most: yellow and blue, fan and honeycomb patterns, nothing standard.

A bathroom with a bold curved yellow panel, white tiles and a framed print

04Showroom

The house is a family home first. It also works as Boti's showroom, and it is rented out for photo shoots.

05The designer

Close portrait of Botond Ferenczy, glasses on, one hand on his forehead, against warm wood panelling — Botond Ferenczy. Photo: Biró István

Designs it, then stays for it

After buying the house, Boti brought very little furniture from the old apartment. He wanted to design almost everything new, from the kitchen island to the coffee table. He never runs out of ideas, and he looks after the houseplants himself.

For clients it works the same way. He designs each room and each piece, then has them made by craftsmen he has worked with for years and stays with the job until it is fitted.

Based in: Cluj-Napoca
Training: Graphic design
Influences: Bauhaus, modernism
Collects: Chairs, lamps

06Press

Nőileg magazine: honest materials, functional spaces, a designer's homeJune 2024. Interior feature on the Ferenczy house, in Hungarian. Photos: Biró István

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