Chris Hardy

Chris has done plenty with his time here on planet earth.

He studied graphic design at The Auckland University of Technology. He followed this with portraiture and figurative painting at The Whitecliffe Arts Institution, and finally dove into economic studies at the University of Auckland.

Chris got his first 'real' job running the marketing for a homewares retail chain where he cut his teeth on marketing, copywriting, branding and commercial design. He then co-founded an advertising agency, that, over two decades, grew to have offices and clients around the world. He then entered the 'start-up' world co-founding/ investing/ running/ a range of companies across the planet, including software, screen printing (printing Michael Jordon’s business cards for Nike), Artificial Intelligence and audio technology.

But, his passion had always been kid's books, from his own childhood love of Dr. Seuss, through to his own children's love of every kind of kid's book. Chris had nearly 30 year's worth of ideas for books, story lines, poems, sketches, themes, characters, and the beginnings of paragraphs, jotted down on post-it notes, old hard-drives, journals, scraps of paper and in his whirling around in his head.

In 2023, Chris decided to exit the corporate world, moved his family to the beach, got a dog, and started creating books with his ex-advertising agency partner Steve Dunlop (the most talented artist and illustrator on the planet) and Graeme 'Fid' Horne, his oldest school friend, a research guru, history buff and another slight nutter.

One of his favourite lines is from a Bob Dylan song “I got a head full of ideas, that are driving me insane.” Chris is trying to get those ideas out as fast as possible, in between running around after his kids, falling off his surfboard, falling off his paddle board, falling off his kayak, and falling off his mountain bike.

Chris lives with his fabulous wife, awesome teenage kids, failed guide dog, and two cats at the beach in Auckland, New Zealand.

Chris's single mission is to 'Make kids laugh their socks off!'

He created 'Gorilla Books Interstellar Empire Corporation Limited' to achieve that mission.