‘Flower bomb’ draws admirers to Pasir Ris pavilion
Pasir Ris residents were “flower bombed” last Saturday when a sheltered pavilion in Pasir Ris Street 12 was turned into a floral display to spur people to look again at unassuming common spaces through different eyes.
The community installation was created with flowers like delphiniums and hydrangeas, in shades of purple to match the colours of the surrounding blocks.
The project was the brainchild of florist Wedding Ang, 27, who runs a floral business, Copper Garden. She was given her name as she was born on the day of her parent’s wedding anniversary.
Ms Ang, who grew up in a housing estate in Bukit Batok and now lives in Jurong East, said she embarked on the project when she saw how people scarcely paid any attention to common spaces like void decks.
It took her two hours to set up the floral decoration with the help of two assistants.
Over the six hours that it was displayed, the installation drew some 50 admiring visitors, including Ms Ang’s Instagram followers, who were given hints of where it was set up.
Blogger Grace Tan, 37, visited the site with her husband Derek and seven-month-old daughter Melody after seeing the hints on Copper Garden’s Instagram page.
‘They’re secretive about the location, so you won’t know unless you really stalk them. And because they’re so secretive, I became interested to find out,” she said.
She added: “I think it’s a beautiful idea and also inspires me to adopt this idea of beautifying our common spaces. It could be a corridor, your lift lobby, your own home.”
Mr Mark Goh, 67, who has lived in Pasir Ris for more than three decades, commended the team for turning a “bare” space into something creative.
MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC Sharael Taha came upon the floral decoration while meeting residents in the vicinity.
“I think this flower bomb initiative is really fantastic, with how they’ve turned an everyday area into something that’s special for people to take note of by making the place livelier,” he said
Ms Ang said: “I’m very thankful for the visitors who spent their weekend with us, even if it’s a few hours, just to see what we’ve created. It makes waking up early to set up so worth it when you see the genuine reactions of people.”
“Our ultimate goal is to inject joy into these kinds of mundane spaces, and to have it received in this way is very rewarding,” she said, adding that she also hoped to bring neighbours closer together.
Ms Ang said she spent about $700 on the flowers, which were either given to residents or pressed and preserved after the display was dismantled on Saturday evening.
This is the second time she has organised a “flower bomb”. The first was in March, at a void deck in Serangoon.
Ms Ang said she is setting her sights next on an overhead bridge.
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