Colour, the Poppy way

Choosing combinations that feel right

Colour theory can become very technical, but in the studio it rarely feels that way.

Most of the time it begins with instinct — placing one panel beside another and noticing when something settles. A balance appears, or a quiet tension between colours that feels interesting enough to keep.

Over time a few simple relationships tend to appear again and again.

Warm and cool

Warm colours — terracotta, honey, olive, rust — tend to bring a composition closer. They feel grounded, sunlit, sometimes a little nostalgic.

Cool colours — soft blues, sage greens, dusty lavenders — tend to open things out. They create space around the other panels and allow the composition to breathe.

Neither is better than the other. They simply create different atmospheres.

Often the most interesting compositions hold a little of both.

Soft, bright and quiet colours

Some panels carry softer, muted tones that settle easily beside one another. These colours tend to create calmer compositions.

Others arrive brighter or more saturated. They introduce a spark of energy — sometimes just one panel is enough to shift the rhythm of the whole arrangement.

Then there are the quieter, earthy colours. These tend to hold things together. They give the composition somewhere to rest.

Letting the composition find itself

Because poppy panels attach magnetically, the composition never needs to feel fixed.

Panels can be moved, rotated or swapped until the colours feel balanced. Sometimes the change is small — a panel shifting slightly across the surface. Sometimes the whole arrangement finds a new structure.

There is rarely a single “correct” combination.

More often it’s simply the moment when something clicks and the composition begins to feel settled.

A final thought

Colour isn’t really about rules.

It’s about paying attention to how colours sit beside one another — and trusting the moment when a composition begins to feel right.