Prior to the photo shoot you came to the DAIGE studio, and you both fell in love with the same garment from the new collection. How did you feel in the kimono and how did you complete the look with your own style for the shoot? 

Süci: We typically fall in love with the same thing. Kimonos are natural garments to wear at home for us, and these ones have a print that even matches one or two of my paintings, so it was easy to feel like myself in them. 

If I’m not mistaken, you have worn each other’s clothes before. You are running wrapped in the same quilt in the video clip of “Néha kevés, néha több”. In your private lives do you also like to have fun with your look and experiment with each other’s clothes?

Máté: We often reach into the wardrobe of the other, mostly me into hers. It has become natural to me that if I find the garments I want in the women’s section, then I buy them from there. This is not what my masculinity depends on. It’s interesting that some people might depend on something like this to feel manly. There’s nothing wrong with that, unless it becomes a source of frustration and the person is unable to accept if anybody differs from his idea of normal. That is a problem, and unfortunately one I face day after day. I just want to dress the way I want. It’s not hard to imagine what one may still go through here for diverging from the large majority in terms of sexuality or anything else. 

You are both artists, which could create many different dynamics in a marriage. How does this work in yours? What are the advantages and disadvantages, if I can put it that way?

M: An advantage is that we understand each other’s lifestyle and rhythm much more easily than if we worked in completely different fields. A negative is that these professions clearly have their own uncertainties and unpredictabilities, for example regarding income. 

S: The most important thing is to accept that we both have two types of love in our lives. 

Do you notice your influence on the work of the other?

M: Our personal growth is clearly noticeable on our work. It’s easy to recognize the influence of a muse on music, and that is the case with Néha as well, which started from me lyrically and the first acoustic version was made for our wedding as a surprise. If we make something, we share it with each other immediately, and take into account the other’s feedback. Of course, something may still be promising if it didn’t get the approval of your critic first. Another thing is that I feel more clearly where the borders are blurred between different branches of art. Their languages are different but their essential strength lies in very similar things.

S: Private and artistic life is inseparable. I believe our impressions clearly appear in each other’s art.

Have you ever been inspired by the same thing, even though you create in completely different mediums? If yes, what was it?

S: Travel is one of my main sources of inspiration. Whenever I get the chance to immerse myself in a new culture, I am impacted by its architecture, defining colours, cuisine, and atmosphere, and returning home I have a prolific artistic period. I think this may be because traveling gives me a chance to observe myself and my own culture from the outside. Realizing this has helped me consciously disrupt the comfortable stability I tend to settle into artistically. Paris was a defining place for both of us, the lewdness of which I was fascinated by.

The months-long voluntary quarantine has affected everyone differently - some cherished the opportunity to rest, it made some anxious, while for others this did not differ from their “normal” life that much. How was your experience staying at home? Was it easier or harder to stay creative?

M: For many reasons this is a sad, difficult time that affected people in the music industry among others. Staying at home per se was not an unusual experience for us, we spent a lot of time working between four walls normally, too. We were able to make the most of it, paid attention to ourselves, and got completely hooked on nature films. This wave of “now is the time to write a song” felt somewhat forced to me, people who are songwriters are doing that anyway. I had no problem brainstorming, came up with a few song ideas, and spent a lot of time with my instrument as well.

S: These few months allowed me to catch up with work and relieve the pressure of the tasks I had procrastinated. I feel like I have been cleansed both mentally and physically. I lost a large portion of my stylist and branding jobs, but I finished the costume design for two operas and made progress on my painting commissions.

Süci, I believe you studied at MOME to be a textile designer, and your November collection with Réka Hársfalvi and Boldizsár Szenteczki won first place in the Gombold újra competition in 2014. Today you are also a painter. How did this change happen?

S: Our lives took different directions and it became impossible to work together. I like working on multiple projects at the same time, and it changes periodically which field has more emphasis in my life. I started painting when I was 16. In the beginning I was interested in the figural style, but then I turned towards the abstract. It was interesting to see how people needed some time to be able to really value these pieces of art without any former education in the abstract. 

How does the textile designer in you express herself these days?

S: My past with textile is naturally inseparable from costume design, but I think the perspective of the textile designer is intrinsic to my paintings as well.

Máté, is there a difference between your stage costumes and your personal style? Are these categories separate for a rockstar in 2020?

M: They certainly overlap. I have a few pieces specifically for the stage but I’m not the kind of musician who has a whole separate persona for performances only. The way I dress is a way of self-expression in my everyday life as well, and it’s the same identity I am communicating in both situations, although occasionally with different tools. How these categories differ is a question of concept rather than of era. 

Who’s your fashion icon, if you have any?

M: There's a lot of influences, but the coolest rockstar is still Keith Richards, and David Bowie’s legacy is also unbeatable in this regard.