When Crystal Bailey and Mitchel Lindsay met last year, they had an immediate connection. They finished each other’s sentences and would spend hours on the phone talking late into the night. In all respects they felt like twins, even nicknaming one another โTwinnieโ. So when the time came, after months of discussion, to launch their own business, the name came naturally: Design Twins.
A unique handmade homewares brand, The Design Twins’ main obsession is concrete, making everything from pots, cups, pillows and hands out of the material.
โWhat I love about concrete is the fact that something so strong and simple can be moulded into structured, organic forms,โ says Crystal. โIt allows the mind to get creative and use it to create anything. I created a concrete birthday cake for Mitchโs birthday a few weeks ago!โ
Yet the idea to make homewares out of concrete didnโt come overnight, rather Crystal has stylist extraordinaire Megan Morton to thank for the inspiration. โInย February this year, I attended her masterclass. It was life-changing! Literally. I left inspired and hungrier than ever to want to start something different. Something that came naturally to me, yet something different to what was out there in the world of homewares.โ
So armed with a visual diary, Crystal spent several weeks sketching and before long, the beginnings of the Design Twins range had formed. The next step saw the duo rock up to their local Bunningโs in a Mini and pick up a bag of concrete (they admit there were some strange looks!) and then, with their kitchenย as their studio, they began making.
โWe originally made a concrete pot by mixing up a bag of concrete and pouring it into a container,โ explainsย Crystal. โThen we used a smaller container filled with rocks to make the hole in the centre. This simple idea then led to so many crazy ideas, which is how we made our lava pots, cups, pillows, coffee cup candles and skulls.โ
A favourite of mine (and of theirs) is the concrete pillow, which while not ideal for resting your head on, is perfect for your phone or keys! โI love the look on peopleโs faces when they pick them up for the first time, expecting a light pillow and realise itโs actually concrete,โ says Mitch. โThe texture, weight and individuality that come from concrete itself, just makes every piece so unique.โ
The pillow, alongside all their other homwares, is extremely unique, so it may come as a surprise that Design Twins is their first foray into traditional design; with Crystal previously a musician signed to Song Music and EMI Records and Mitch the owner of a gourmet grocer.ย But for Mitch, he doesnโt believe the lack of formalย training has held them back: โIย wouldn’t say we have the typical design background of some but we definitely have our own style of controlled madness to our creation processes and that’s what we love.โ