Photographs by David Straight
The designer for the new Deadly Ponies store (among other Britomart retail outlets) hunted far and wide for the perfect interior accessories for the accessories brand.
The new Deadly Ponies store follows in the footsteps, design-wise, of their flagship space in Ponsonby, which opened in February this year. Can you tell us about the approach you’ve taken with both?
With that store and the Britomart one, we were growing the brand up. We’ve been working together for six years as the brand has grown and gone from strength to strength. Prior to these stores, we’ve always always inhabited spaces that they’ve found – just putting in plints or cabinetry. It was more of a guerrilla approach. McKelvie Street was the first space that they have owned, so we were able to do a lot more with it, and this store follows on from that.
How did that change what you did with this space compared to the previous store at Britomart?
We wanted it to feel more like a reflection of the boys [designer and founder Liam Bowden and his fiancé Stephen Boyd, managing director of Deadly Ponies] and their tastes, and we wanted it to be an environment that anyone would feel comfortable in. Because their bags change so much seasonally in terms of colour and texture we developed a really neutral palette for the space.
What opportunities did the space itself create?
The space has that great, big shopfront window, so when we saw how that worked, we decided to add the tiles and curved wall.
The garden space out the back is also unusual, letting light in from both ends. Your brother Jared Lockhart, who’s a landscape designer did the design for that, didn’t he?
Yes, and I think he did a great job It was interesting, because at McKelvie Street, the garden he did there is very wild and unstructured and here it’s very structured, which I think is exactly what the space needed.
Can you tell us where you sourced some of the beautiful accent pieces within the store?
The plate and vessels are from Art and Industry on Manukau Road. They’re all hand-painted Dutch ceramics from circa 1900. It wasn’t planned to have them all but found one, and then the next, and every time I went back I kept finding another one. I don’t know if they were coming in or if they were just hidden. The Japanese cabinet is vintage, found in Tokyo, as is the tri-fold mirror. And the vintage wicker lightshade in the front window is from LA. I’ve been waiting for the perfect project for it.
And all the cabinetry?
We pretty much made the rest. Grant Bailey made the marble-topped table and plinths, and the folding screen for bags and jackets, and the shopfitters we work with made the rest. Hayley Bridgeford made the ceramic balls for the plinths, and the ceramicist Bronwynne Cornish made the jewellery stands, which she also made for the McKelvie Street space.
Oh, we love her work. What made you want to work with her?
I like her, she’s great, and that really comes through in her work. It’s interesting and draws on influences from other eras and cultures. I just wanted to add another layer to the fitout that suited the boys. They already collect her work, so that was a nice link there.
