Walking into Stigter Van Doesburg on the corner of narrow cobblestone streets in the heart of Amsterdam, I was greeted by the warmth of subtly bright hues and welcomed by the hospitality of dogs that mirrored the paintings and murals on the walls. Wandler and David Surman’s PAWS, a collaborative pop-up gallery show, instantly made me feel at home.

It is hard to believe that this is the first collaboration between Elza Wandler’s namesake luxury brand and London-based artist David Surman. With similar colour palettes and ideas about the accessibility of art and fashion, and of course a shared love of dogs, the two partnered with an organic sense of ease. Looking to Amsterdam’s art history, they brought the post-war CoBrA movement’s principles of experimentation and partnership to a contemporary scene, swapping the traditional snake motif for a dog and highlighting the connection between humans and animals. “It is very rare to find a person that doesn’t connect to the dog,” Surman tells me as I stand with him and Wandler in their exhibition space. “A dog is universal,” Wandler adds. “It hits every single culture in the world.”

With David Surman’s large-scale mural and dog portraits covering the white gallery walls, Wandler’s PS24 collection displayed in visual harmony, and the energy of guests eager to interact with the work, the pop-up’s opening event was a powerful portrayal of optimism, friendship, compassion, and intrigue. Coming together, the two artists complemented and enriched each other’s work and created a new realm of enchantment — accomplishing what all great collaborations seek to.

“Even though painting and fashion design are separate worlds, at the foundation, we’re on the same page. We’re the same kind of artists,” Surman tells me. Wandler agrees. “We have a similar tone of voice. Our designs are quite bold and colourful and quite straightforward,” she adds, looking around the gallery at the playful yet sleek hues and silhouettes. Surman nods. “We like the strong and simple.”

A merging of visions, the two fed off of each other’s skills and perspectives to enhance their own creativity and work. “For me, working with somebody like [Surman] makes me flow more in my own work. It helps open my mind, look at things through his eyes, and get new energy,” Wandler tells me about her collaborator — who instantly chimes in with equal levels of respect and adoration. “The same is true for me. I’ve been finding all these ways that things can be better through that designer thinking, which is all about correcting, shaping, and nudging. I’ve found something here that I genuinely have never found before. There are shapes and forms in the mural that I’ve never done before, that came out of our dialogue and this whole process. Once I absorbed everything, it was in my subconscious and came out through the brush.”

When I tell him which painting is my favourite, which is called Longest Day, Surman jumps straight into the story behind its subject. “Longest Day is my memory from when I was a kid. You would spend all day in the garden with your dog, and they’d really want to go and do stuff, but you’re reading or listening to music. And by the end of the day, the dog is like, ‘Come on. I want to do something.’”

There are little stories behind every painting, though Surman tells me the meaning is not truly up to him. “I’m not in control of the meaning. The meaning is with the audience,” he explains. “I strongly believe that when an artist finishes something, when a painting leaves the studio and it goes into the world, it’s up to other people to feel their feelings. I think the job of art is to make people feel, and my meanings are just a very small part of it.

Part of the collaboration’s power and success, Surman believes, is due to this idea that people can interpret the work on their own, through their own backlog of memories, experiences and emotions. “We’ve brought our work together, but we’re not obsessing over the exact meaning of the collaboration,” he shares. “We’re keeping it open. It’s up to the person to be in here and make connections. As we grow and age, we form all these amazing bonds with things. And art is this thing that comes along and sort of stimulates all of these connections.”

“To me, the work has done its job,” he replies when I ask if it’s difficult to know that the mural won’t remain on the gallery walls forever. “It’s transmitted its possible meanings to people. And if it goes away, that’s fine. It also makes it special in a way. It’s really important for some things to last forever, and be cherished. Like a bag — you want to have a bag forever, you want it to last. With painting, it’s also great to know that we’re making things that could just go back into nothing.”

It may be a temporary exhibit, but the energy and spirit that PAWS fostered within these four walls will live on forever. The loving, loyal characteristics of the collaborator’s protagonist can be felt every guest who came to celebrate its opening night, and in every inch of the gallery.

PAWS is open to the public now through September 6 at Stigter Van Doesburg.