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Most people who walk into our shop assume "Windflower" is a poetic name. Something a marketing agency came up with. The truth is more personal: my aunt named the business after a song called "Windflower," and it stuck because the windflower is a real bloom. It's the anemone. If you've ever ordered from our anemone collection, you've technically ordered the flower the shop is named after. The Greek word "anemos" means wind, and the anemone got its name because the petals open and close with the breeze. Anemone, windflower, same flower. Different language. The Song That Named the Shop My aunt grew up listening to "Windflower" by Seals and Crofts. It's a soft, slow song from the 70s that she played around the house long before she ever thought about opening a florist. When she eventually did, the name was already sitting in her head. There was no shortlist. No brainstorm. Just the song. I took over the shop from my parents at 22, and one of the first things I had to figure out was whether to keep the name. Plenty of newer florists in Singapore have brand names that sound modern, abstract, or quietly luxurious. "Windflower" reads softer. Less polished. But the more I worked with the flower itself, the more the name made sense. Anemones are not the loudest bloom in any arrangement. They're the one your eye keeps coming back to. What Anemones Actually Look Like If you've never seen one in person, an anemone is hard to describe. The petals are papery and slightly translucent, almost like crepe. The centre is dark, often black, with a tight cluster of stamens that creates a graphic, almost drawn-on look. The most common varieties we work with are deep purple, bright red, white, and pale pink. The contrast between the dark centre and the light petals is what makes them photograph beautifully and stand out in mixed bouquets. Unlike roses or sunflowers, anemones are not a year-round flower in Singapore. They're seasonal imports, which means availability fluctuates. When they're in stock, they tend to move quickly because the people who want anemones really want anemones. They're not a substitute purchase. Why Anemones Stayed Personal to the Business Even after we expanded the catalogue (hand bouquets, vases, flower stands, subscriptions, the whole range), the anemone never left the brand. We've kept it on signage, on packaging, and as a recurring motif in seasonal arrangements. When we launched our seasonal collection earlier this year, anemones were one of the first flowers we planned around, alongside peonies, ranunculus, and other limited-window stems. The Aftermath Anemone ($76 in Standard, $89 in Double Down) is currently the cleanest expression of what we want the flower to do in a vase format. It uses the dark-centred varieties against a neutral arrangement so the anemones do the visual heavy lifting. We designed it deliberately: this is the flower the shop is named after, so it deserved its own product, not just a supporting role in a mixed bouquet. When Anemones Make the Right Gift Anemones aren't the safest gifting choice. Roses are safer. Sunflowers are safer. But "safe" is rarely what makes a gift memorable. The customers who order anemone-led arrangements usually fall into two categories: people who already know the flower and have a personal connection to it, and people who want to give something the recipient hasn't received before. The recipients almost always notice. We get more "what is this flower?" responses on anemone deliveries than almost any other variety. That's part of the appeal. It's a flower that prompts a conversation rather than blending into the background. If you'd like to see what's currently in stock, browse the anemone collection or check the seasonal collection for the broader rotating selection. The Flower Behind Our Name Anemone arrangements from $76, with free same-day delivery across Singapore. Limited seasonal availability. Shop Anemones → If you're not sure whether anemones suit the occasion, Windy, our AI florist, can help you decide between anemone-led arrangements and other seasonal options based on your gifting context. The story behind the name isn't something we lead with often. Most customers come for the flowers, not the etymology. But the next time you see an anemone in one of our arrangements, that's the flower the shop was named after. It's been part of the brand from the first day, and it still is.

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. The Collection That Started in a Lockdown 50+ flower vase arrangements, from $45. Free same-day delivery across Singapore. Every design arrives ready to display. Browse Flower Vases →