Chris Godfrey is the award-winning Global Principal of HBA Residential in UK and Singapore, the private residence division of Hirsch Bedner Associates. An architect by training, Chris has cultivated a holistic design approach, combining architecture and interior design to create finely crafted homes for discerning clients across the globe.
If I were a CAR, I would like be a Mercedes-Benz 190 SL – last year I drove in my client’s 1963 convertible model from the Hôtel de Paris in Monaco, down the iconic, Grand Hotel hairpin and along the Avenue Princesse Grace. It was a unique experience creating an indelible memory, so I would like to be the vehicle to create such recollections in others.
If I were a BOOK, I would choose Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino. It is a beautiful meditation in which the fabled explorer, Marco Polo, recounts to Khubli Khan over fifty fictional cities he claims to have visited. The descriptions are essentially an exploration of imagination; each taking the form of a parable on culture, language, time and memory.
If I were a FILM, I would be Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon: action-packed, genre-blending, culture-crossing and quote-laden: ‘Not thinking, yet not dreaming: ready for whatever may come’
If I were a CITY, it would be New York and I would never sleep.
If I were a BIRD, I would be a hornbill, because my wife is fascinated by them. They are typically seen in pairs and have come to symbolise our time in Asia.
If I were a BOAT, I would be Odysseus’s Homeric Galley. The journey embarked on is long and perilous; requiring many rebuilds and great resilience – but the destination is steadfast, and the home winds will carry you there eventually.
If I were a SUPERHERO, it would be Monty Python’s ‘Bicycle Repairman’. In a world of Supermen, the everyman is the real hero at hand to tighten nuts and inflate tyres. It’s a lovely inversion where no job is too small.
If I were a HAT, a flat cap. I have a number of them. You can take the boy out of Yorkshire, but you can’t take Yorkshire out of the boy.
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