Bad date night sparks idea that makes Sydney friends $500,000

After these two Sydneysiders exhausted most of the fun places to go on date night, they decided to make their own. And it’s raking in cash.

A boring date night has sparked an idea for a business which has seen a pair of friends rake in a whopping $500,000 in less than a year.

Friends Allen Fu and Fiona Wang, both 27, from Sydney, both independently realised that they had exhausted most of the fun date nights available in the NSW capital.

Mr Fu had just ended a long-term relationship and found every place he visited with someone else reminded him of his ex and at the same time, Ms Wang was also running out of ideas to spice up her nights out with her partner.

Involved strongly in Australia’s Chinese community, the two came across several viral Chinese social media videos showing art projects using a type of paint called fluid paint.

They then decided to launch their own studio in Homebush in August last year which uses fluid paint, operating similar to a cork and canvas painting class for anyone to join, to get ahead of the trend in Australia.

“We’re projecting $1 million in a full business trading year,” Mr Fu told news.com.au.

Called The Fluid Project, their business has taken off in Sydney and they’ve even sent do-it-yourself kits to 21 countries so far due to popular demand.

They are now looking to franchise The Fluid Project, which made has so far generated half a million dollars in revenue.

Friends Allen Fu and Fiona Wang have started a business that has exploded in popularity.

They are renting a studio out in Homebush for customers to come and paint.

The two founders attributed part of their company’s success to the paint itself.

“With normal paint, you paint off a paintbrush,” Mr Fu explained.

“With fluid paint you pour it out of a cup, there is almost no control. The patterns that come out every single time are different.

“In this world with the NFT (non-fungible token) boom, people want things that are unique.”

Customers are given a ‘fluid bear’ which they are then able to drip paint on and choose what colours to mix. They can do so with a glass of wine in hand and take the bear home afterwards.

Ms Wang said she was further inspired to launch the company because it was difficult to obtain artworks that used fluid paint.

Whenever she came across artworks made from fluid paint, she said they would be treated as “premium collectibles” where specific artists were hired to make them.

“They could go up to $10,000, $20,000 for one artwork,” she told news.com.au.

“I thought, ‘How cool would it be if I could make my own?’”

Fluid paint, a unique art medium, can only be poured out of a cup and so always creates different patterns.

Ms Wang noticed how expensive artworks that used fluid paint were and she wanted to change that.

Realising they were onto something, the pair pooled together an initial investment of $40,000.

They sourced stock, warehouses, deposits and bonds. Despite all that, the most expensive costs by far was legal costs to double check contracts with suppliers.

Within 24 hours they started the warehouse and three weeks later, they opened the doors of The Fluid Project to the public.

Ms Wang has a background in marketing so that was her area of focus to get the business off the ground, while Mr Fu has run other businesses and had more of an understanding of the supply chain side.

They are now actively looking to franchise The Fluid Project and said they are in discussions with some interested parties in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane.

The Fluid Project’s DIY kits have also taken off, having been sent to customers all over the world, including the UAE, Kazakhstan and even Slovakia.

An example of a DIY Fluid Project kit being sent out all over the world.

Mr Fu and Ms Wang both have a TikTok presence, with tens of thousands of followers each, that helped them propel their business further.

Their videos about The Fluid Project have garnered more than 23 million views.

This was actually how Ms Wang and Mr Fu met a year and a half ago, through social media.

They started talking online and went on to become good friends.

The young entrepreneurs have no plans of slowing down soon anytime soon.

In fact, in April, Ms Wang soft launched her second business, a digital marketing agency.

A week after, Mr Fu launched a rave business idea.

Mr Fu has now founded a total of 10 businesses and said that The Fluid Project was by far the most expensive to get off the ground – but was proving lucrative very quickly.

“We have delegated the majority of our tasks – if you didn’t do that, you’d die,” he added with a laugh.