DAVID HARTNELL: ONE MINUTE INTERVIEW

DAVID HARTNELL: ONE MINUTE INTERVIEW WITH ANDREA STEVENS

Andrea Stevens is an architect-turned-copywriter helping businesses tell their stories to the world.

What area do you live? I live in Point Chevalier, which has amazing public venues – MOTAT, Auckland Zoo, Coyle Park, Western Springs Stadium, the beach. It feels busy with community.

How have you survived through the pandemic? Thankfully, my work only slowed for a short time. But with a world in crisis, I have had to focus on what I can control and accept what I can’t. It has forced a total reset of my priorities.

What was your childhood like? My dad’s work took us to Italy and Sydney for a few years, but it was otherwise spent growing up in West Auckland exploring the bush and West Coast beaches.

I will die happy if... I get the chance to write a book about Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural histories.

Your favourite TV series? The Queen’s Gambit; Anya Taylor-Joy is so mesmerising. It also follows the classic hero’s journey format which I have always loved.

What would be a dream holiday? I would choose a destination based on food and design. So, both Italy and Japan are very high on my list. Favourite movie? The Imitation Game; Turing is so driven and focused on solving a problem.

Give your teenaged self some advice. Work overseas in your 20s. Don’t take things too seriously. Live in the moment.

How do you chill out? The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and other great comedians help.

What’s on your bucket list? As well as visiting Japan, I would love to have a significant ceramics collection. And if I wasn’t allergic, to adopt a chocolate Doberman Pinscher.

Most Kiwi thing about you? I wear jandals to work in summer, although not to a client meeting... yet.

Aisle or window seat on a plane? Definitely the window seat. Being up in the clouds is such a surreal experience. You truly feel the scale of the planet up there!

Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Hopefully, doing exactly what I am doing right now, surrounded by great people with a shared vision.

If they made a movie about your life who would play you? Tilda Swinton or Cate Blanchett.

If you were reincarnated what would you be? If it was an animal, it would have to be one of the big cats, a) to be at top of the food chain, and b) to enjoy that physical power.

Do you read movie or TV reviews? I love reading well-written reviews. The longer the better. Insights into the historical context or character motivations grab my attention and influence my choices.

How would you like to be remembered? As being kind, interesting and open-minded.

Best thing about your age? I am wiser than I was ten years ago.

What would you would do if you won a million dollars? Give some away, go on a family holiday, buy a bach.

What motivates you? Doing the very best I can do with a sense of achievement. What can’t you live without? My winter scarf and my jandals.

Favourite time of the day? Sunset is beautiful, especially when the sky turns red.

Most treasured possession? I try not to treasure possessions, but if I had to choose, it would be my grandfather’s old stencils.

Insecure about what? That I don’t know enough.

What’s something very few people know about you. I am part Italian and part Samoan.

Favourite hero of fiction? Frodo, because of his perseverance in the face of fear.

What superpower would you like? The ability to fly and the freedom that would bring.

Which talent would you most like to have? To be a great painter or sculptor. I think this would have been inspired by living in Italy as a child.

What cliché do you most hate? I’m a writer, so I try to avoid all clichés.

Dream guest list for a dinner party and why? Trevor Noah, Amanda Gorman and Cate Blanchett, because they all show such passion for what they do.

Do you have a party trick? I can wiggle my ears, but I think that party trick lost its edge when I turned 15.

Change one law or policy in NZ - what would it be? I would love to see more equality in New Zealand and take some of the stress off parents working long hours. We specifically need a targeted capital gains tax and to start prioritising private homes for families not investors. (DAVID HARTNELL MNZM)  PN