Inspiration: Partners & Spade

On the way to brunch this weekend in Soho, we passed this place called Partners & Spade. I racked my brain all during our meal trying to remember where I had heard of it - having a hunch it included Andy Spade. So we go check it out, and the first thing I ask when we sheepishly walk in, is "is this a store?" I just didn't know. It looked like it could have been an office or a gallery or a really spare boutique. And it's all three. Funny side note - I immediately recognized the guy there, who turned out to be an owner, from when he did some freelance work at the ad agency I worked for. Small world here in NYC. Anyway - turns out Partners & Spade are the creative minds behind the J.Crew men's shop in Tribeca:


That's how I knew the name! Anyway - the offerings inside inspired me & made me smile more than any shop or art exhibit I've seen in a long time. I could have stayed for hours going through the drawers of antique stamps and old photos and scorpion paper weights. The 'backdated confidence trophies' were my favorite. Want to make like you won that karate championship back in 1985? No problem. (The well-written plaque beside them said something about how you will actually start to believe you won the trophy and give you the confidence of victory. So great.) I love when you see something or experience something with new eyes, like you're seeing it or experiencing it for the first time - like a really clever ad or a brilliant movie or a work of art that makes you stop dead in your tracks. Walking into this space full of little collections of things was unlike walking into a gallery or a boutique in the traditional sense at all - and that felt new and fresh and really interesting. Both John & I left there like little kids leaving a candy store. We didn't buy anything but were so happy that a place like that exists at all. That there are people who think like that. And in turn, make us think differently because of being there. And to be able to stumble upon that made me feel very -- well, lucky.

Click here to read a short interview with Andy Spade regarding the Partners & Spade space.