Deadly Ponies Launches Australian Flagship
The New Zealand leather goods label debuts its bags and accessories with a new peach-tinted store in Melbourne designed by Katie Lockhart Studio
Sixteen years after Deadly Ponies launched in New Zealand, the leather goods brand has opened its first Australian store, conceived by interior designer Katie Lockhart. Having worked on the brand’s retail spaces for a decade, Lockhart has established a strong design language, and although Deadly Ponies founder Liam Bowden wanted to maintain a unifying aesthetic, the new Melbourne location on Armadale’s High Street provided an opportunity to introduce a slight twist.
‘We have developed a strong retail handwriting over the 10 years working with Katie, but for our first Australian store we wanted to create something beautifully unique and customised for the audience,’ Bowden says. This takes the form of a chainmail curtain that frames the rotating shopfront display, an idea inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House — a historic home in Scotland currently encased in a semitransparent protective shell. ‘It’s the perfect window on the sort of street where customers might like to window shop. It delivers an experience without people even stepping into the store,’ says Lockhart.
When the sun streams in, the intricate mesh illuminates the peach-tinted interior and curved back wall. It’s a colour palette Lockhart developed for the brand a few years ago and has carried across. ‘The colour is warm but simple, it’s a great shell because it’s neutral enough to support whatever collection they design,’ says Lockhart. The interiors are minimalist yet serene, with a graphic vintage chair, art nouveau vase, and slimline oak joinery designed showcase the collection of luxury bags and clutches.
A family of custom plinths is stacked in oversized geometric shapes, while displayed under the glass counter are small accessories made with leather offcuts salvaged from the refuse bins of local tanneries. Pared-back timber cabinetry and spacious shelving recedes into the background and allows the bags to take centre stage. ‘I always work hard to create the best background for the product to live alongside,’ says Lockhart. ‘The stainless steel chain mail curtain and touch of marble provides just the right amount of edge. I really wanted this Deadly Ponies store to feel warm but sharp and I think this combination delivers.’
Text / Carli Philips
Images / Sean Fennessy
