Company: Thomas Cooper Studio

Company URL: https://www.thomascooperstudio.com/

Product/Collection Name: Poppy Days

About This Product: Poppy Days (In Flanders Fields), by Thomas Cooper Studio, is a limited-edition triptych of sculptural armatures that explores the intersection of childhood memory, wartime sacrifice, and the enduring symbolism of the poppy. Created by Sally Thomas Cooper, the work marks a departure into highly personal, conceptual territory for the East Los Angeles-based atelier.

The collection consists of three solid bronze forms, each hand-woven with waxed cotton thread and natural wool. This triptych serves as a tactile exploration of the famous wartime poem by John McCrae, In Flanders Fields, translating the poet’s imagery of life blooming amid the battlefields into a physical dialogue between heavy metal and fragile fiber.

For Sally Thomas Cooper, the collection is rooted in her upbringing in rural New Zealand, where the legacy of the World Wars remains a palpable presence. The "Poppies" reflect the duality of the ANZAC Day commemorations: the delicate paper poppies worn by civilians and the heavy, industrial reality of the injuries sustained by the soldiers who returned.

The three sculptures represent a chronological and emotional arc of existence:

Bright Life: Representing the red blood coursing through veins and the vitality of youth.

Experience: Marking the inevitable loss of innocence and the weight of history.

Decay: A final meditation on death and the return to the earth of Flanders Fields.

True to the Thomas Cooper Studio ethos, Poppy Days utilizes a compelling combination of industrial and organic materials. The solid bronze armatures provide a permanent, structural "skeleton" for the delicate, hand-woven patterns of waxed cotton and wool. This juxtaposition of the "immortal" bronze and the "perishable" textile mirrors the poem’s theme of the dead passing the torch to the living.

The Poppy Days triptych is made-to-order, with customization and singular pieces available upon request.