This NYC-based Indian entrepreneur plays florist to the stars

Who doesn't love receiving flowers? There’s something so romantic about seeing them sitting in a vase around your home, a light fragrance wafting around them—but it certainly can feel upsetting when they start to wither and die. No more! NYC-based Seema Bansal Chadha found just the solution—Eternity Roses! Designed to last more than a year, each arrangement is expertly handcrafted to ensure a lasting impact, ideal for marking special occasions, pretty. Bansal-Chadha and her husband and co-founder Sunny took over the rights and exclusivity to bring this concept to the market, right from the farm in Ecuador!

One bad Valentine’s Day led to the launch of this viral company. “Venus et Fleur was born in mid-2015 after my boyfriend Sunny and I, while in a long-distance relationship, experienced a disappointing floral delivery. I was in Vancouver and Sunny was in New York when he sent me flowers for Valentine’s Day, but what arrived was far from what we had ordered,” says Bansal-Chadha. The couple realised that there was zero transparency in the floral industry—what you saw online wasn’t always what you got.

So, they launched Venus et Fleur in NYC to create a beautiful, branded floral service where customers could trust to receive exactly what they ordered. “Our flowers, freshly grown on farms in South America, Europe, and Japan, are treated with a special wax-based solution to preserve their texture, scent, and shape. Today, Venus et Fleur is the first-ever global luxury floral brand, working with prestigious names like Chanel and Audemars Piguet for gifting.” adds Bansal Chadha. Thanks to their easy maintenance and stellar aesthetic appeal, the roses are popular with hotels, at weddings, and with major retailers like Bloomingdale's and Bergdorf Goodman. 

A major turning point for the business came in 2016 when the Kardashians organically shared the arrangements on their Instagram feeds. “The posts went viral, and we were already fully sold out when they shared them that Valentine’s Day. It helped put our brand on the map, but it also made us realise we needed to prepare for scale. We immediately started planning our inventory needs and have been forever grateful for that exposure!,” says Bansal-Chadha.

And it’s not just the Kardashians, Venus et Fleur seems to be a celebrity favourite. Offset famously used their arrangements to reconcile his relationship with Cardi B on stage—spelling out ‘Take Me Back Cardi’ with dozens of red and white roses. Even Bella Hadid gifted her sister Gigi a box of their white and gold roses for her birthday!   

In 2019, the couple made it onto one of the highly coveted spots on Forbes’ 30 under 30 list. With 604k followers on Instagram and a consistently growing customer base, everything’s coming up roses for Venus et Fleur, as the brand continues to flourish and has now expanded to fragrances and even home goods. 

Feature image: Seema Bansal & Venus Et Fleur

Also read: Here are a few floral decoration ideas for your wedding
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