Spade and Archer has had a rich history since 2009. During that time an awful lot of folk lore and tall tales have been spun around our storied little business. Here's a collection of some of those fun facts about your favorite home staging company. From the origin of our name, to all the easter eggs we leave behind, to how we avoid putting fake items in our houses…
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Spade and Archer was named after the work place of the main character, Sam Spade from the The Maltese Falcon. His partner, Miles Archer dies in the first paragraph of the book. Poor Miles. Our founder, Justin Riordan, was living at 891 Post Street in San Francisco, California when he read The Maltese Falcon for the first time. The novel was not only written in the very same building by author Dashiell Hammett, but also the main character Sam Spade also comes home to 891 Post Street after investigating Miles Archer’s murder. That’s how Spade and Archer Design Agency was named. One of the many mysteries surrounding our colorful company culture.
891 Post Street in San Francisco
HONORING OUR CORE VALUES
At Spade and Archer we talk an awful lot about our core values. Every once in a while you can find a Scrabble game, shopping list, or stack of books that gives clues as to what we hold dear. Keep an eye out for these four words: Graceful, Adept, Tenacious, Thoughtful.
Check out the words on the board, they tell a story about how we tick.
CALLING CARDS
We love to leave small clues, or “easter eggs” that we have been in a house. Next time you are in a staged home and find a typewriter in place of where a computer would go, be sure to check the script left behind. If you spot page 17 of The Maltese Flacon you are sure to be standing in a Spade and Archer Home Staging. Also, near that typewriter there is most likely a tin of brand new No. 2 pencils with perfect erasers.
The typewriter both replaces the fake computer and holds the script from the Maltese Falcon.
As you wonder into the kitchen and near the open cook book you spot a vintage radio you can also be assured Spade and Archer has been there. Not only are these vintage radios out on projects, Justin and his family enjoy this tradition in their home as well. Every morning it takes five minutes or so for the antique “tubes” to warm up in the radio before the day’s headlines float across the air and mingle with the smell of cooking bacon and brewing coffee.
Antique radios can be found in most of the kitchens we stage or in collections filling a bookcase.
REPLACING THE FAKERY
One principle Spade and Archer abides by is ’No Fakery’. No blow-up beds, no fake TV’s, no fake computers. If you are staring at a wall were the TV would normally go and you spot artwork, take a step back and look for a projector near by. This fun throwback replicates were the TV would go while inviting you in on joke of it not being there.
The antique projector and art work takes the place of the fake flat screen monitor.
Next time you are in a staged home be sure to look for us, Spade and Archer, around every corner. We will let you know we have been there in the smallest of details. Here are a few shots of Easter eggs we have left behind, see if you can spot them. The answer will follow.
