How a Lockdown Turned Us Into Singapore's Go-To Flower Vase Florist

In April 2020, two weeks into Singapore's circuit breaker, we received approval to continue operating as an essential service — on a rotational manpower basis. That meant a skeleton crew of two or three people at the studio at any given time, masked up, spaced apart, working through orders that had shifted in a way none of us expected.

Before COVID, Windflower was primarily a hand bouquet company. Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations — the standard occasions. Our vase arrangements existed, but they were a small corner of the catalogue. Maybe five or six designs, mostly afterthoughts. The demand simply wasn't there.

Then everyone went home. And everything changed.

What Happened to Our Orders During Circuit Breaker

The first thing we noticed was the message cards. Before the lockdown, most cards said things like "Happy Birthday" or "Congratulations." During circuit breaker, the tone shifted completely. Cards started reading: "Hang in there." "Thinking of you." "Hope this brightens your day." "Stay strong, we'll get through this."

People weren't celebrating. They were checking in on each other. Friends sending flowers to friends who were living alone. Children sending arrangements to elderly parents they couldn't visit. Colleagues sending something to a teammate who was struggling with WFH isolation. The intent behind the orders was different, and that changed what people wanted to buy.

Hand bouquets didn't make as much sense anymore. A bouquet is designed to be presented in person — there's a moment of receiving it, unwrapping it, finding a vase. But during circuit breaker, deliveries were contactless. Our riders would leave the package at the door, ring the bell, and step back. A bouquet left on a doorstep in cellophane wrap, with no vase and no one to present it to — that didn't feel right.

What people wanted was something that could go straight from the doorstep to the living room table. No trimming, no arranging, no searching for a container. Just open, place, done. That meant vases.

Building the Vase Collection From Scratch

We started expanding our vase range during the second month of circuit breaker. It wasn't a strategic product launch — it was a response to what customers were asking for. We'd get messages like, "Do you have something that comes in a vase? My mum doesn't have one at home." Or, "Can you put the bouquet in a jar instead? She's living alone and I don't want her to have to fuss with it."

Our first batch was simple. We took our existing hand bouquet designs, shortened the stems, and arranged them in glass jars we sourced from a local supplier. They weren't elegant. The proportions were off — bouquet-style arrangements forced into vessels that weren't designed for them. But they sold. Fast.

By the third month, we'd learned enough to start designing specifically for vases. Different stem lengths, different flower-to-greenery ratios, different focal point placement. A vase arrangement needs to look good from every angle because it sits on a table, not held in someone's hands. That required us to rethink our entire design approach.

We also learned which vessels worked and which didn't. Tall, narrow vases looked elegant but tipped over easily on small HDB side tables. Wide-mouth vases let stems splay too much, making the arrangement look sparse. Our sweet spot turned out to be medium-height glass cylinders and our now-signature caramel ceramic bottles — stable, proportionate, and reusable.

The Heartwarming Part

Running a flower studio during a lockdown was hard. Our team was working on rotation — each person could only come in on designated days, which meant handovers happened over WhatsApp photos instead of in person. Supply chains were disrupted. Some of our regular flower imports were delayed or unavailable. We had to improvise with whatever the local wholesalers could get in.

But the orders themselves were the most heartwarming thing I've experienced in this business. There was a period — maybe three or four weeks into circuit breaker — where almost every order felt personal. Not transactional. A daughter sending her mum a Daily Surprise vase ($75) with a card that said, "I can't come over but I'm thinking of you every day." A group of colleagues pooling money for a Hopeful Flower Vase ($103) for their teammate who'd just had a baby alone in hospital because visitors weren't allowed.

Those orders reminded us why we were doing this. It wasn't about revenue (honestly, revenue was down significantly). It was about being a bridge between people who couldn't be together physically. A vase of flowers on someone's kitchen table was a small thing, but during circuit breaker, small things mattered enormously.

From 6 Designs to 50+

After restrictions eased, we expected vase orders to drop back to pre-COVID levels. They didn't. People had gotten used to having ready-to-display arrangements at home. The WFH crowd, in particular, kept ordering — weekly flowers for a home office desk became a thing. Housewarming gifts shifted from bouquets to vases because the recipient could place them immediately.

So we kept building. What started as 6 improvised designs during circuit breaker grew into a dedicated collection. Today we carry over 50 flower vase arrangements, from a $45 carnation jar to a $259 hydrangea centrepiece. We've tested and refined every vessel shape, developed arrangements specifically for different room settings, and introduced preserved flower vases like the Cotton Fluff Vase ($88) for people who want flowers that last months instead of days.

The COVID chapter was difficult. Running on rotational manpower, sourcing flowers through disrupted supply chains, delivering to doorsteps we couldn't linger at. But it also taught us something we wouldn't have learned otherwise: that the way people relate to flowers at home is fundamentally different from how they receive them as gifts. A hand bouquet is a gesture. A vase arrangement is a companion — something that sits with you through your day, your week, your mood.

That insight shaped everything we've built since.