Cover Panther Chan (Photo: courtesy of Times Square)
Panther Chan (Photo: courtesy of Times Square)
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Ahead of Chinese New Year, the Canto-pop singer shares what led her to take up knitting as a hobby and how she’s preparing for her big concert at the Coliseum
2023 was a rewarding year for Canto-pop singer Panther Chan, who won four awards at the city’s major annual awards, the Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation; she came third in the Top Ten Songs category, picked up silver in the Singer Songwriter category, won Best Female Singer, and was voted the crowd’s favourite.
She’s off to a flying start in 2024 too, but in a different vein. Ahead of Lunar New Year, she’s leaning into her passion for knitting by designing red packets embellished with tiny knitted flowers paired with a knitted pouch for Time Square’s Chinese New Year campaign. “I have used the festive red and orange palette a lot, but I have also added in some blue and green colours to balance things out, so that the designs are a little livelier and younger,” she says in an interview with Tatler.
The singer says she has loved knitting since primary school. But she didn’t pick it up again until the pandemic, when her work life came to a halt. “I was staying at home [a lot], so I thought I could take up this hobby again,” she says. Since then, it has become a relaxing outlet that she can turn to whenever things get a bit too stressful on the work front. “I’ve knitted so many things so far. Judging by this, it seems I lead a very stressful life,” she quips.
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Above Panther Chan holding the red packets and pouch she has designed (Photo: courtesy of Times Square)
Panther Chan holding the red packets and pouch she has designed (Photo: courtesy of Times Square)
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On the music side of things, Chan will next be performing at the prestigious Hong Kong Coliseum in March. The theme of the concert is her own inner strength, and it’s inspired by her new songs, in which she explores the idea of self-belief and confidence by using the metaphor of a ray of light in darkness. “In the concert, I want to be that ‘light’ onstage against a dark backdrop.”
She also teases that she will bring in some “special acts” to her concert. “But in terms of my singing, I won’t change my personal style just because my concert is going to take place in the Coliseum,” she says. “I’ll work on all that I need to do, practically, for my performance, and then I’ll focus on preparing myself mentally.”
Knitting might help her get rid of those pre-concert jitters, but after the show, Chan says she’s going on a well-deserved vacay.
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Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
