Mr Bottle was interviewed by Lianhewanbao. The reporter wrote an amazing story about Mr Bottle and challenges he faced before and ahead.
Here’s our attempt in translating this article:
Headlines: Self-taught magician in the hall of fame and is a favourite amongst celebrities in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
When Kien (aka Mr Bottle) performs his magic, he is not only skillful, but also eloquent, funny and humorous. At the age of 42, he is the father of three children, but he is like a boy when he performs magic.
He first started performing magic while in college, mainly to make some pocket money. However, his performance was unexpectedly popular, which led him to decide to devote himself to the art after graduation. “My parents originally opposed me to be a magician and asked me find a stable job. Think of magic as a sideline, they said. But I’m passionate about magic, and I don’t want to give up this dream without trying it.” Therefore, he chose to believe in himself, hoping to prove his ability and determination with his strength and achievements, he soon became famous in Singapore.
Since year 2000, he was often invited to perform in China. At a show in Shanghai more than a decade ago, he met a magician from Taiwan. The two hit it off and decided to partner to perform magic together. Their cooperation has taken the business to the next level, not only performing magic, but also organizing children’s parties, which lead to the setting up of Mr Bottle’s Kids Party in Taiwan
Mr Bottle’s Kids Party now is a one-stop shop for your decorations, balloon sculptures, art & craft and of course, magic. The activities they organized also so popular that they are the favourites of many celebrities customers including Taiwanese mega stars Dee Hsu and Barbie Hsu, Hong Kong superstar Cherrie Ying and Singaporean actress Yvonne Lim.
The outbreak of COVID19 created another business opportunity for Mr Bottle’s.
Mr Bottle’s Kids Party had originally planned to enter the Shanghai market this year. But unfortunately a 2019 COVID19 outbreak occurred greatly affected local business, not to mention stalling his plans to go there. But instead of “waiting and seeing”, he looked for other business opportunities and created a DIY themed party decoration package, which included ready-made party decorations, so that customers could easily set them up in their party venues. “My Taiwan partner and I are working together on this project. He is in charge of manufacturing these decorations in Taiwan to reduce costs, and I am in charge of advertising and receiving orders. Hopefully, this will help us get over this lull period.
Story of Mr Bottle: Based on a Real Life
Kien’s stage name “Mr. Bottle” came from his real life. Though a magician on stage should be out-going, he was, in fact, timid and introverted when he was a child. So shy that he recalled, “when I was a kid, my father gave me an empty bottle. He said that if I open it once a day, I will become more confident. The bottle was like a magic that gave me strength and allowed me to build confidence. Later, I found out that the bottle was actually empty but believing in the magic changed me.” Therefore, ‘Mr Bottle’ is a magician who wants to inspired young audiences to tell them to believe in themselves.
Mr Bottle plans to incorporate more elements into the performance to use magic to go to schools and teach values in a fun manner. He joked, “In addition to making people laugh, magic makes it entertaining to teach. I also often use magic to communicate with my three children, with good results. I hope that in their eyes, I am an extraordinary cool dad!”
Kien, the Businessman
Kien, is not only a magician, but also has business acumen. He also started a toy company, Toys Magic, with his sister while establishing his own magic career around 2001. Kien, who was studying at the time, had an idea while traveling in South Korea. Taking advantage of the “Korean Wave”, he introduced exquisite Korean-made toys to Singapore. “Those toys were hard to buy in Singapore at the time, and the quality was very good. In order to obtain the exclusive local distributorship with the manufacturer, I specially flew to South Korea to sign a contract, skipping university classes in the process.”
Although he had to take care of school, magic, and this business at the same time, he enjoyed it. Today, this business has developed into a lifestyle store now called Klosh, which is owned by his sister and brother-in-law.
He believes that those with a will can achieve everything. Everything is like magic. As long as you are believe in yourself, everything is possible, and doing business is no exception.
Captions 1: Kien (Mr Bottle) has been fascinated with magic since he was a child, and in the era when there weren’t Internet magic. He relied on his enthusiasm to read the books and materials.
Captions 2: Kien (Mr Bottle) not only performs magic for children, he also organise events for corporate.