Worthing identical twin artists win top award for their gallery

“We are really, really pleased,” says Gemma. “It's amazing. I would never have thought that we would have got that. It's just great.”

The 32-year-olds have been in business together since 2017 and set the gallery up three years ago. As Gemma recalls: “We were both working in separate full-time jobs. I was working for a travel company and Stella was working as a gardener but we have always been creative as individuals and we've always done artwork as a hobby but never together as our business. I was just in the office one day and I came home and it was a very spontaneous decision. I realised that I was just living for weekends and bank holidays and I just didn't want to live my life like that. I just knew that I wanted to create my own business one day and so I had a conversation with Stella. We discussed it and we were thinking of the various things that we could do and eventually Stella came up with the idea of being twin artists.”

Stella explains: “It just suddenly clicked. I thought that we did both have that in common. We had both done artwork for years and years and I just thought it would be nice to do it as twins. It just makes it so interesting for people. We've got a big photo of us up and it just really attracts people's attention and people want to know more. They are drawn by the whole idea that we are twins and that we are so different.”

Stella is the illustrator and Ink Genius of Two Faced Twins, using fine liner pens to create detailed illustrations: “My main inspirations are street scenery and architecture, especially art deco. I love to capture the atmosphere in my line drawings.” Gemma is the Colour Queen: “I work on the colour and digital manipulation, transforming each illustration into a striking interior design piece for the modern, contemporary home. You'll usually find me in our office, transfixed to the computer screen adding colour to our artwork or in the studio sampling colours for upcoming artwork."

And the point is that neither could do what the other does. As Stella says: “We have got a lot of similarities like our mannerisms and so on but also a lot of differences. I would say that businesswise I'm probably more laid back and I would say that Gemma is probably the more bossy.” Gemma is happy to agree: “In the early days, I would say that I was probably the more ambitious but I would say that now we're probably both equally invested in the business.” But there are downsides, as Stella says: “Working as twin sisters kind of goes beyond the boundaries and it was difficult to have any family relationship and just talk about family things. We're always talking about business and money and we are always needing to make sure that we are both on the same path goal-wise.”

In fact, as Gemma adds: “We did stop the business at one point because it was affecting our relationship. All we ever spoke about was the business and we lost our sisterly relationship. So we did stop but I just thought that the whole thing was just such a huge opportunity. I always thought that we were going to make it a huge success and so we started again. I didn't know how long it would take to become a big success but we are getting there. We are already really successful in the area. We are into thousands of selling artwork but now we've just got to take it to the next level. I know it's going to happen.”

As Stella says: “We do striking pieces for the home. We started out doing artworks of many local scenes like Worthing and then we branched out into Brighton and London and we've done animals as well. We are drawn by the pop-art style and I would say that's definitely inspiration. It's extremely bright colours and detailed illustration – definitely pop art.”

www.twofacedtwins.com. Two Faced Twins Art Gallery, Marine Parade, Steyne Gardens, Worthing, BN11 3DZ. Opening times Tuesday-Sunday 11.30am to 4pm.