First Person: Colette Koo

First Person: Colette Koo

Nightlife doyenne Colette Koo is the founder of legendary nightclub Drop and bar/restaurant FINDS. She’s also been a punk, an actress and film producer. She talks to Johannes Pong about her life, dreams, aspirations, and having cancer.

By Johannes Pong | published Apr 22, 2010

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I was born in London. My family came back to Hong Kong when I was six or seven.

My mother says I have always been an independent child.

They would take me out to dinner and find me chattering away at some other table with complete strangers. Yes, I was a social butterfly even at a young age.

I’m the eldest, with a brother and four sisters. I like being part of a big family, because if there’s a fight, there’s always someone on your side.

I was always a dreamer as I was pretty much the only child for the first five years of my life.

I always had this running fiction going through my mind. I was in a fantasy world, really.

I never could make up my mind on what to be. An actress? Designer? Writer? I still don’t know, but I always wanted to be famous. Kids crave attention and glamour.

I don’t think I was one-track minded enough for fame though. I get distracted too easily.

I went to art school in London. It was the beginning of the punk days and I was right in the middle of it all. My roommates knew Boy George really well.

I came back to Hong Kong with a shaved head and blue hair.

I never kept a portfolio. They just looked at me and decided, “You’re artistic, you’ve got the job.” So I did a lot of styling work, photography, and art direction for films.

Nowadays, we’re dime-a-dozen, but in those days, someone art-based and bilingual was a huge asset.

That led to one amazing job after another. I worked on “Shanghai Surprise,” “Last Emperor,“ “Empire of the Sun.”

I decided to go back to drama school in the UK when I was 30. I did a lot of theater. I was in a TV series.

I hate meeting people who go, “Oh I wish I’d done that, but...” Just give it a go.

“I’m too old” is a really bad excuse. I learned to snowboard when I was 40. I don’t think I’m courageous—just stubborn.

I came back to Hong Kong and thought of opening up a China beer bar, with kitsch Mao statues. Well, it was 1997.

Then I ran into DJ Joel Lai, right outside where Drop is now. We were both looking for venues. The rest is history.

I became the face of Drop for three years. I’ve never drunk so much alcohol in my life. And never have since.

What’s killing creativity in Hong Kong is the rent.

All the things that make up Hong Kong aren’t given any chance to survive. Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Thailand, they have little pockets of cool—shops or cafés—as well as things from the past.

The government has the ability to stop it, but they don’t realize because they’re not interested. To me, the government doesn’t love Hong Kong enough. They don’t know how to nurture it, and they don’t know how to sell it.

Last year, I discovered that I have cancer. It was stage four.
Nobody lives forever. There’s always more you want to experience in life, whether you’re 50 or 15—it’s not that different.

Look at it this way, I used to worry, “I’m still single, what am I going to do when I’m 80?” Perhaps I don’t have to worry about that now.

I’m not really struggling with it, I’m just taking each step as it comes. And enjoying every day at is it.

I’ve had a chance to live life to the fullest, so I consider myself very lucky already. There’s really no point hanging on for the sake of hanging on.