Maggie Chan

HK Magazine: How did you first get into the field?
Maggie Chan: I’ve been a full-time TV producer for the past 13 years. I’ve always believed that one person doesn’t have to just do only one thing in his or her whole life. Besides my full-time job, I try to do something else to keep myself excited.

I lived in Melbourne for a year. As I have always been interested in paintings, while there I held a campaign called the Popart Movement, in which I did social painting sessions at different locations, gathering people to paint together. We collaborated with Ikea and we did 400 paintings and sold them to charity.

During my time in Melbourne, there were a lot of people collecting terraqariums (a more general version of the mossarium, made with different plant sources) and mossariums. I found that all my friends started to make their own terraquariums. It got me excited, so I started doing this. Back then, I was only doing it with plants in a jar. When I came back to Hong Kong last year, I decided to open up Lilliput Tales because I was looking for places to make and sell these mossariums. I wanted to keep it a bit different and I started to put small little people in each jar. In fact, I’d say I am the only person whose mossariums have these mini people in them.

HK: What are you inspired by?
MC: Each jar has its own story, which is a captured moment of a person’s life. You know, the pace in Hong Kong is so fast. Sometimes, we forget things or don’t try to remember things. I get all my inspirations from observing people, reading, watching movies, going to exhibitions, having creative engagements and talking to others.

HK: Where do you get your materials from?
MC: Predominantly, I get most of my stuff in Hong Kong. I visit the Flower Market a lot in Mong Kok, where I can find a lot of the things I need. I do go to the goldfish market as well to look for aquariums in shops that sell fish products. Also, I get some products from China. For the little people, I buy them from a supplier who sells the figures from the German company Preiser—they make the best models, with very good detailing. The figures come in different scenarios and I use them in their pre-existing forms. If someone comes and says they want a wedding gift for their friends, I would get a wedding couple with some guests sitting around and build a story around them.

HK: What are your future plans?
MC: We would like to hold an exhibition in four to five months. I’m working towards holding an exhibition [showcasing] around 20 to 30 mossarium jars, getting people to buy our products as well as to show our mossariums to the public.