Cj Hendry Flower Market: Singapore’s plushie frenzy

SINGAPORE – Flower mania has once again hit Singapore’s shores, but this time over fake florals.

The opening day of Flower Market, a pop-up flower plushie installation by Australian artist Cj Hendry, was met with snaking queues and a mad rush to bring home – and, for some, to resell – the petalled plushies.

The installation, which opened on June 10 and runs till June 14, features a sea of plush flowers neatly placed in buckets for visitors to pick out. Each person can take a stalk for free and purchase more at $7 each.

Videos on social media showed queues of visitors forming outside IMBA Theatre’s gallery space at Gardens by the Bay on June 10 to view the installation, with IMBA informing attendees of waiting times of up to 120 minutes.

Some who entered the venue were seen armed with large tote bags, into which bunches of flowers were quickly scooped, as others cradled armfuls of flower stalks.

Checks by The Straits Times found more than 10 listings on peer-to-peer online marketplace Carousell selling the plush flowers – with a bouquet of seven stems going for up to $91. Some users offered to head down to the installation and purchase flowers on behalf of interested buyers for a fee.

ST understands that there are no plans to limit the number of flowers visitors can purchase. All the blooms, including the Singapore-exclusive designs, will be replenished based on availability.

The plushies at the installation span more than 30 types of flowers, including eight exclusive designs based on local species. Among the Singapore exclusives are national flower Vanda Miss Joaquim, the Raffles’ Pitcher Plant and the Singapore Lipstick flower.

In response to a media query on June 11, IMBA chief executive officer Michael Lee said crowd management measures have been implemented at the venue to ensure a safe and comfortable visitor experience. These include timed registrations, controlled venue capacity, entry and exit flow management, and queue marshals.

While pre-registration slots have been filled, walk-ins are welcome daily at the installation from 9am to 9pm. Walk-in registration ends at 7.30pm, with the last entry at 8pm, subject to venue capacity.

Lee said updates to waiting times for the walk-in queues will be posted on IMBA’s Instagram account (@be.imba) to help visitors plan their schedule.

The Flower Market pop-up in Singapore marks the installation’s South-east Asian debut.

“Previous editions of Flower Market were extremely popular, with (Hendry’s) plush blooms embraced by fans and curious audiences alike,” said Lee.

“The strong interest in this presentation (in Singapore) is encouraging, as it demonstrates the power of art in illuminating the everyday, where even something as familiar and ordinary as picking flowers can spark joy for everyone.”

Flower Market was launched in New York in September 2024, and has made rounds in cities like Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.

At its installation in Sydney, Australia, in May, some visitors waited for up to seven hours to enter the venue, with the queue described as mayhem by a visitor, reported Yahoo.

Hendry is a New York-based contemporary artist who is famed for immersive and large-scale public installations, such as a pop-up of rows of inflatable flowers at a festival in Aspen, Colorado, in 2025, and a 50m-long public pool installation in the Las Vegas desert in the US in 2024.

Her works aim to explore consumer culture, nostalgia, materiality and perception.

Hendry is also known for hyper-realistic pencil drawings of objects – including the dishevelled head of a Barbie doll, as well as a crab on a plate.

An inflatable experience based on her JuJu collectible toy – a fluffy bunny-like doll with a flower over its left eye – will make its world premiere in Singapore on June 20. The ticketed event will end on July 18.

Limited large-sized JuJus will be crafted exclusively for its run here.