Inspired Spaces - The Flower Cafe

What better space is there to inaugurate our Inspired Spaces series than what has become our home away from home - The Flower Cafe, Woodstock, Cape Town. 

Inspired Spaces showcases some of our cities most authentic and unique remote working spaces. In the age of digital migration and location independence, the monotony of working from home begins to take its toll on ones soul. These carefully sought-after locations reignite inspiration and set you free from the constraints of your routine.

The grand and welcoming Flower Café was ranked in the top ten of Inside Guide’s listings of the ‘hottest new restaurants in Cape Town’. Launched on 6 August 2020, Flower Café is a coffeeshop in Woodstock where you get to make your own one-of-a-kind flower arrangement, while sipping on barista-brewed coffee and nibbling on delicious homemade eats.

How did your space come to be?

“Like so many Cape Town businesses, we were scrambling to pivot our florals and events business during arguably the worst economic crisis our company has seen since we started it in 1967,” said the owner and founder of Petals Group, Flower Walker. She added, “Then on a chilly day in July we sat down with our marketing consultant to thrash out ideas and the Flower Café was born!”

What is your inspiration and intention for the space?

You’re not imagining it, nobody seems to want to talk right now.
Messages are brief and replies late.
Talk of catch ups on zoom are perpetually put on hold.
Group chats are no longer pinging all night long.

It’s not you.
It’s everyone.
We are spent.
We have nothing left to say.
We are tired of saying ‘I miss you’ and ‘I cant wait for this to end’.
So we mostly say nothing, put our heads down and get through each day.

You’re not imagining it.
This is a state of being like no other we have ever known because we are all going through it together, yet so very far apart.

Hang in there my friend. This is hard. No one is judging.

Our space is a respite from the feeling of isolation and frustration of these challenging times.

In your opinion, how does human connection impact the world?

It is so important in maintaining our overall emotional health & here at The Flower Café we have seen that a connection is so valid in inspiring and generating overall wellbeing in so many ways. If we can give people a way to feel socially connected, especially in today’s increasingly isolated world, then we are doing an incredible job as humans.

What do you have to offer people who want to break their routine and do something unique?

We have a variety of specially curated sensory experiences that will feed your creativity & soul and teach you such wonderful life lessons, allowing you to go back into what ever life you live, or to what ever job you do, with a different perspective and a renewed energy to carry on. We also provide a place to work remotely or meet friends for coffee. We offer you a space to escape to for a few hours of tranquillity and creative buzz.

Alexis Wellman, Cape Town, March 2021.