I’ve written extensively about collaborations between fashion houses and artists, noting that, for the most part, these partnerships tend to be fraught with commercial tension and exert little more creativity than a Picasso-printed tea-towel from a museum gift store. But in establishing that standard, as so many of these projects have since the turn of the millennium - arguably spurred on by Marc Jacobs’ artistic liaisons at Louis Vuitton, with the likes of Richard Prince and Takashi Murakami - sometimes one comes along that surprises and delights.

That’s the case with a new capsule collection from New Zealand leathergoods brand Deadly Ponies, which pays homage to fellow Kiwi artist, the late Len Lye. Best known for his short films that revolutionised the form, alongside sculpture, paint and prose, Mr Lye’s practice took the form of physically scratching, painting and stencilling directly onto the film negatives, creating richly layered works that, very rightly so, recently came together under the one roof at the Len Lye Centre in New Plymouth, which we reported on earlier this year.

Key to the Deadly Ponies collection is the creative director Liam Bowden didn’t directly borrow Mr Lye’s iconography and reproduce it on leathergoods, but rather took inspiration from some of his film stills, including Rainbow Dance and Trade Tattoo, to create colourful prints that celebrate the artist’s spirit, working with the Len Lye Foundation and New Zealand Film Archive to ensure the project’s legitimacy. The collection is available in store now.