Christopher Guy Harrison
British-born designer of luxury furniture popular with exclusive hotels and Hollywood directors
CHRISTOPHER GUY HARRISON, who has died of cancer aged 59, founded the luxury furniture brand Christopher Guy, inspired by the design philosophy of “contemporary mood with classic values”.
Patronised by those for whom money is little object (a sofa might set the buyer back $20,000), Christopher Guy furnishings grace the ocean liner Queen Mary 2, homes of Hollywood celebrities, some of the world’s most exclusive hotels and resorts (including the Savoy Hotel in London, the Georgian Restaurant at Harrods and the Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas and Macau), as well as the sets of Hollywood blockbusters such as Casino Royale, Oceans 13 and The Devil Wears Prada.
Patented “signature” Christopher Guy design elements include the Chris-x (pronounced criss-cross) leg, said to have been inspired by the hourglass waist of Scarlett O’hara in Gone with the Wind and the crossed legs of a ballerina, as well as elegant “Silk-cut” slits and openings featured on tables, cabinets and upholstery pieces.
Christopher Guy Harrison was born in London on September 3 1960 to a French mother and British father. The marriage was dissolved, his mother remarried a Spaniard and he was mainly brought up in Spain and France.
His first assignment was, as a 16-year-old, helping his stepfather design and build a house in Taradeau, in the South of France.
He subsequently opened his own pop-upstore in Juan Le Pins and in the late 1970s spent a year with his stepfather in Equatorial Guinea.
They were intending to re-open coffee plantations owned by his stepfather’s family, but their plans were scuppered by a military coup in 1979 and they fled the country on a Russian cargo plane to Zaire.
After trying his hand at various schemes, Harrison worked for several years in a ski shop in Switzerland and subsequently started a small property development business in Bournemouth.
His involvement in furniture design began in 1993 when, inspired by ornate carved-frame mirrors he had seen at a Spanish antiques show, he and his then girlfriend, Marta Gil, founded Harrison & Gil, sourcing the best carvers in Java, Indonesia. A year later he sold his first mirror at Harrods.
By 1998 he had bought land on Java to build a factory and he went on to design and build a one million square foot workshop complex to accommodate 1,400 woodcarvers and specialist finishers. In 2005 he expanded to make a full line of luxury furniture.
Harrison’s objective was “to make uniquely beautiful decorative furnishings that appeal to an international market”. He opened showrooms in 42 cities around the world and his work featured in publications from architectural journals to trade magazines.
Details were always important. The swirly design of what became known as the Camilla mirror inspired the Irish milliner Philip Treacy to make the hat worn by Camilla Parker Bowles at her marriage to Prince Charles.
Articulate, but soft-spoken, Harrison split his time between Singapore, Los Angeles, New York and London, where he was delighted in 2011 to open a Christopher Guy showroom on the furniture floor of Harrods.
He was even more pleased to be invited to do the design for the 100th anniversary refurbishment of Harrods’ Georgian Restaurant, where he had often been taken to tea as a child, and for which he created more than 500 pieces of furniture.
“It was a project that meant a great deal to me because Harrods is a purveyor of the finest goods in the world,” he said. “t represents old-world elegance, directly tied to my heritage, and my beginnings in the industry.”
Harrison was the recipient of numerous international awards, including the British Interior Design Association’s “Outstanding Design Award”, and the Las Vegas Design Centre’s 2011 “Design Icon Award”.
He is survived by his wife Kisa and by two sons.
Christopher Guy Harrison, born September 3 1960, died August 19 2020