Two Girls Co.: The Wife-and-Wife Team Inspiring Designer Pride

Meet Two Girls Co., a wife-and-wife design team and makers of awesome designer goods in Bristol, UK. The company was founded in 2017 by Lucy Weston and Vicki Leach.

Lucy is a senior art director, currently working at Great State, Bristol, and has eight years experience in digital media, illustration, animation and video production. She has worked across a wide range of brands including Bristol Airport, Royal Navy, The View from The Shard, Johnson & Johnson, American Express, Camelot and UNHCR. Incidentally, she was just named as one of the BIMA 100 recognising the most influential, pioneering and changemaking people in the UK’s digital industry for 2019.

Vicki is a Bristol-based designer form the Isle of Man and the design director for Deadgood. She designs furniture, lighting and accessories for commercial interiors worldwide, as well as producing her own designs for like-minded brands under her own design studio.

Coincidently, it was both of their grandfathers that inspired Lucy and Vicki to get into design. Lucy’s granddad was an artist and photographer who acted as a mentor through her younger years. Vicki’s was a joiner by trade and inspired an interest in how things are made. 

The pair met in London just under 10 years ago. “We bonded over all things music and design related,” they say. Working on a project together was always something that they wanted to do. Lucy works in digital while Vicki is a furniture/product designer - different disciplines that often utilise the same thought process. ‘Project Wedding’, as they called the mammoth undertaking of a designer couple’s wedding, was the first opportunity to do this. “We were surprised at how well we worked together and created various aspects of it,” they say. “Buoyed by the success, we decided to finally work on a product together. Our company name actually derives from the social media hashtag we had at the wedding #TwoGirlsOneTipi.”

Two Girls Co. is Lucy and Vicki’s side project that occupies them when they’re not working at Great State and Deadgood. They say their goal is to “design and sell accessories that mostly encourage designers to feel proud about what they do.” 

Their first product - the ‘Designers Rule’ pin - launched in late 2017. “We were actually so surprised with the success as we thought this was very niche and only a few family and friends would actually buy it,” they say. They underestimated their appeal. Thanks to a feature on Design Milk things really took off. The social media post led to the pins finding their way to all corners of the globe, including USA, Lebanon, Brazil, Japan, China and Australia. The pair have continued on the design theme since but have also created a secondary, home accessories side of the business to broaden their appeal. 

Here are some of their products, with a bit of added insight from Lucy and Vicki.

“We’ve been collecting a number of enamel pins ourselves and thought this would be an affordable way to start a product range. We wanted to create something that was fun but also useful. The pin itself is to scale, so can be used to measure things everywhere you go

(so long as it’s really small). ‘Designers Rule’ was really just a pun that went along with it, but it seems to speak to a lot of people.”

“We couldn’t find what we wanted – a minimal terracotta clock. So we designed one and asked a nice potter in Dorset to hand throw it for us. We liked it so much, we decided to get you involved too! Every clock is handmade from natural ‘Cheddar Red’ clay and bears the marks of the potter and of the hand throwing process. This makes each clock unique and small variations can be expected.”

“Only 11% of creative directors are women. This pin is simple. We want to empower women in the design industry to wear this pin and feel proud of what they do. Not only this, but this pin is a perfect conversation starter to help bring more diversity to creativity. Let’s help raise that number up to 50%!”

"’92% of creative jobs in the UK were held by the most ‘advantaged’ in society.’ - The Ideas Foundation

“Everyone should enjoy the freedom of equality. We're a diverse bunch of folk, so the industries we work in, things we produce and society we live in should reflect that. Whatever the gender, race, nationality, sexuality, disability, age or background - we want to see an equal playing field in the design industry and beyond. So start the conversation - we're all ‘Designed Equal’. By wearing this pin you stand up for the intricacies that make us human.

“£2 from the sale of every pin will be donated to The Ideas Foundation who aim to help move the creative, tech and communications industries in a more diverse direction through education and workshops.”