Remembrance blooms

Remembrance blooms

Marking 100 years of the poppy with a new, sustainable design.

One hundred years after the poppy became Canada’s official symbol to remember the sacrifices made and the lives lost during war, faculty and students at Fanshawe are ensuring the symbol continues in a meaningful and sustainable way.

A class of students from the Montessori Academy of London learn the process of making the sustainable poppy paper.

Wendy Sperry, a professor in Fanshawe’s Design Foundation certificate program, teaches students about environmental concerns and how to apply design solutions.

Design Foundation students work on making sustainable poppies with profits going to the Royal Canadian Legion.

“When considering sustainable design, we often talk about single-use plastics,” says Wendy. “I had been thinking about specific items that are important and meaningful to our society. Can they be changed? Is there an alternative? Could the Remembrance Day poppy be made more sustainably?” With the help of two students completing their Fashion Marketing and Management co-op placements, Camara Fletcher and Ha Na Choi, Wendy designed a poppy made from seed paper that can be placed in a garden and, if conditions are right, poppies will bloom in the spring.

Poppies on display in the Siskind Gallery.

Wendy has engaged the Fanshawe community and external partners in this unique project. Poppy seeds have been donated by OSC Seeds. Sterling Products has donated stamps for custom packaging. Psyllium— which is used to smooth out the paper—was donated by Real Canadian Superstore on Oxford Street in London. The poppy pins were donated by the Royal Canadian Legion. The packaging was designed by Fanshawe graduate Omar Houchaimi, who has also been involved in Fanshawe’s entrepreneurship centre Leap Junction.

Close up of a completed poppy.

Wendy has also engaged elementary and secondary school students in the Thames Valley District School Board and Montessori Academy of London to create their own poppies and write letters to veterans at Parkwood Hospital in London.

Poppies on display in the Siskind Gallery.

Funding for this project was provided by Fanshawe’s Innovation Village, the School of Design and Military-Connected Campus.