Two Faced Twins: Meet the artist sisters shaking things up

While walking to work one day Gemma Stevens says she had an epiphany and decided things had to change.

“I just stopped in the street and thought ‘hang on a minute, is this it?’. I’ve never had an epiphany before but something in me knew that my life had to change.

“That night I went home full of excitement because I knew something amazing was about to happen.”

And so Two Faced Twins was formed.

“Stella and I spoke all night running through countless business ideas that we could do together. From becoming twin YouTubers, to running a pancake business, to opening a sandwich shop. The ideas were bouncing around all over the place.

“Eventually we realised it had been staring at us in the face all along – we decided to become twin artists.”

From Worthing and based in Brighton the duo create contemporary, bold, colour art work for the home.

They also have an impressive array of quirky and unique homeware items, including coasters, large glass, chopping boards, place mats, clocks and cards.

But Gemma admits it hasn’t always been plain sailing.

At the beginning of 2019 they decided to quit Two Faced Twins.

“It got to the point where all we would talk about was the business. We were colleagues not sisters.

“I would spend all my time nagging Stel to get things done and getting ratty with her from stress, which resulted in her working less and less.

“The whole thing became a massive chore, which was the opposite of what were trying to achieve when setting up our own business.

“We just weren’t enjoying ourselves.”

Four months went by and Gemma and Stella got their relationship back on track by talking every day in that time.

After deciding to take part in The Artist Open Houses event something happened that neither of them expected.

“We sold everything,” Gemma smiles. “The event was so successful that we were even having people returning to our house, weeks after the event had finished, wanting more and more of our artwork and homeware.

“It was then that we realised we couldn’t let this opportunity slide. We had spent months and months building something really special, surely we couldn’t just throw it all away?

“So, we made a pact that we would start up Two Faced Twins again, but with the intention of always having fun. If we find ourselves miserable, then we stop, immediately, and have a break. We only ever work when we’re enjoying ourselves.”

Learning from experience the pair have very separate roles in the business and work separately when creating each piece of artwork.

“In our first year, we were creating countless pieces of artwork and they were all fit for the bin.

“It took us an entire year to create a joint piece of artwork that we both deemed acceptable. I used to force myself to try and create art like Stel did – detailed illustrations using fine liner pens. But there was one minor problem... I can’t draw.

“Once we’d come to terms with that, Stel started trying to force herself to work the way I did - in colour and digitally, which was completely alien to her.

“After a while, we realised we needed to play to our strengths. We started to work separately on each piece of art, and since then, we’ve never looked back. Stella now creates the initial detailed illustrations. Once finished, I take over as lead designer and work on them digitally, manipulating them and adding colour.”

As for their favourite piece, Gemma says: “Stanley the Stag is a classic.

“He was the first piece of artwork that we created that we absolutely loved. We’ll always have a soft spot for little old Stanley. He’s also been the most popular of our designs.”

Looking head Gemma and Stella want Two Faced Twins to become an internationally well-known art and homeware brand.

“Eventually, diversify into clothing and stationery range as well as continuing to provide large artworks and homeware for contemporary spaces.”

But at the heart of it the twins just want to enjoy every moment together.To view their work, visit www.twofacedtwins.com