Koloman Moser was a leading Viennese designer who co-founded the Wiener Werkstätte (1903–1932), an avant-garde design workshop in Vienna. Before 1903, he played a crucial role in the Moderne Movement. Moser was also a founding member of the Vienna Secession, a group of young artists who had parted ways with the established Wiener Künstlerhaus, the dominant art institution of the time.
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His design, Poppyheads, created three years before the Wiener Werkstätte's inception, anticipated the refined textile patterns he later developed there.
The elongated lines and the simplified, abstracted organic forms reflect a new aesthetic shared by artists in Vienna and Glasgow. Moser's design was produced in various colorways by the Viennese company Johann Backhausen und Söhne, a close collaborator of the Werkstätte, which continues to operate today. The textile was intended for use in upholstery or curtains, complementing rooms designed as cohesive artistic environments by Werkstätte artists.