La Fumée is a growing network of premium cigar clubs in Hungary, starting with its flagship cellar lounge in Szeged. We designed and built its new website: 29 pages in Hungarian and English for the clubs, events, membership and a members’ area with a digital club card. The logo and brand identity are the client’s own. Our job was to turn them into a website that feels like walking into the club.
La Fumée opened in 2023 as a members’ club in a vaulted cellar in Szeged and is growing into a network of clubs across Hungary, with Buda, Tát and Eger already open and Balatonfüred next. Its old website had a blue and teal look that had nothing to do with the leather, brick and warm light of the clubs, and it gave visitors little reason to apply.
The brief was clear about the mood: luxury editorial, a private members’ club, not the tobacco industry. No shiny gold, no smoke and skulls, no leather-and-mahogany clichés.
The website had to feel like the moment the club door closes behind you.
What the new site had to do
We started in Figma to agree on the look, then designed and built the site as a responsive front end: every public page, the members’ area and the states in between, from a successful top-up to a failed payment or a page that needs a login. It was delivered with a documentation page in Hungarian that explains every page and feature.
What we owned
What we worked from
Mobile
Members check events, book an evening and show their club card at the door, all on the phone. So every page was designed and built mobile first, then expanded for desktop. Scroll inside each phone.
Membership is the product. Feeds and chat would make the club feel like any other app.
Options considered
Add a feed, comments and a webshop, or keep the site focused on the clubs.
The choice
Clubs, events, membership and a members’ area. No feed, no chat, no webshop, exactly as the brief asked.
Trade-off accepted
Fewer reasons for a daily visit, in exchange for a site that feels as private as the club itself.
Stock photos of cigars and lounges look like every other tobacco site.
Options considered
Keep curated stock photos, or use the club’s own photography.
The choice
We picked 66 of the client’s own photos and gave them one cinematic grade, film grain and vignette in code, so every new photo matches automatically.
Trade-off accepted
Event photos vary a lot, so the grade has to do quiet work on every image.
The client wanted a short main menu, but the site has 29 pages.
Options considered
A long menu, or a short one that hides pages.
The choice
Six main items, each opening a full-width panel on hover with the pages that belong under it: the clubs, past evenings, membership, adventures and the rolling lounge.
Trade-off accepted
A richer header to design and build, in exchange for a calm menu where nothing gets lost.
Members need something they use, not just a login.
Options considered
A simple profile page, or a real members’ area.
The choice
A dashboard with bookings, past evenings, the club balance with top-up, and a digital club card with a QR code that opens full screen.
Trade-off accepted
More screens and states to design, including success, failed payment and login required.
The client approved the new website, and it goes live soon. The screens here show the approved design as built. The logo, identity and photography belong to La Fumée; the web design and build are ours.
Launching soon
The new website is approved and goes live soon.
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