Partners & Spade is a shop/gallery/studio space located at 40 Great Jones St. in Manhattan that houses a smörgåsbord of curios, objets d’art, eccentric bric-a-brac and enough whimsy to make you feel like you’ve stepped into the living room of a fiercely cool grandparent’s house. Founded in 2008 by art lovers Andy Spade (the founder of Kate Spade and Jack Spade) and Anthony Sperduti (a former advertising creative director) the “conceptual and experiential” storefront is a must-visit for anyone with a glint in their eye and an affinity for beautiful oddities. The space, freshly re-installed for November and December, features sights motley as: a Will Cotton sculpture of piled up pastel-frosted cakes; a tall garden of succulents, vintage microphone stands, and African sculptures; Rene Ricard paintings; records that run the gamut from France Gall to Soiled Mattress and the Springs; tattered “Ghost Ships” by Robert Hawkins; vintage oil cans, rare Japanese erotica from Irving Zucker Art Books; custom-made axes (and an axe rack) by Peter Buchanan Smith’s Best Made Co… and that’s not even scratching the surface. When asked where Partners & Spade procures their wares the reply was – somewhat cryptically – “Literally everywhere.”
Although many of the featured works are by well-established artists (i.e. Will Cotton, Rene Ricard, Gordon Hull,) the space also seeks to feature works by artists who are young in age and career. A glass case of pottery is primarily the work of emerging artists Devin Dougherty, Victoria Morris, Heather Levine, and Ian McDonald. Even ten-year-old artist Marika Thunders has had her t-shirts featured in-store.
For the wee artists and budding aficionados Partners & Spade offers monthly (and free) Avant-Garde Preschool classes where kids can learn about art – show & tell style – from the masters. Other cool things the store has to offer are a collection of “Backdated Confidence Trophies” that you can engrave with your name (fake it until you make it style), drawers of individual found photographs grouped into categories like “People with Dogs,” and a collection of Spade/Sperduti curated found photography booklets with titles like “The One That Didn’t Get Away,” “Ethyl,” and “Accidental Twins.”
This November Will Cotton (whose celestial Rococo visions are like Jean-Honore Fragonard meets Alberto Vargas meets Candy Land) will be baking an assortment of treats in-store on Sundays that will be available for artistic (or regular) consumption.
