Teman Chose This Yellow …Teran Went for White

Even identical-twin designers living together need a little space to call their own.

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By Wendy Goodman
Published Oct 10, 2010

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(Photo: Jason Schmidt)

“Our parents can’t tell us apart,” Teman and Teran Evans say in unison. The 31-year-old identical twins are both designers. They studied architecture together at Harvard, then went to work for Rem Koolhaas. Now they share an apartment in Fort Greene and an interiors and jewelry-design company named Dioscuri. And yet the Evans brothers do disagree on one thing: color. Teman loves raucous, vibrant pigments—he painted a wood dresser in the entrance foyer taxicab yellow—while Teran prefers a much more subdued palette for his home-office wall. Somehow, they manage to compromise. “After all, we shared a womb,” says Teran. “So everything else is an upgrade.”

Ten Questions for Teman and Teran

Most vivid childhood design memory:
Teman: My grandfather’s impeccable sense of style: amazing tailored three-piece suits, fantastic cuff links. And he never went out without a hat.
Teran: Designing toy cities with Teman.

Favorite building:
Teman: Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.
Teran: Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion.

Favorite designer:
Teman: A draw between Kelly Wearstler and Jonathan Adler.
Teran: Zaha Hadid. She’s my goddess.

Favorite movie:
Teman: The Goonies. (I’m a child of the eighties!)
Teran: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (The fashion!)

Describe your college dorm room in one word:
Teman: Taupe.
Teran: Stark.

Places you like to go to seek inspiration:
Teman: Habana Outpost in Fort Greene. It’s filled with people with incredible color sensibilities.
Teran: MoMA.

Best flea-market find:
Teman: A late-1800s Wedgwood vase for $2. The seller was clueless!
Teran: Visionaire issue 18. “The Fashion Issue: Louis Vuitton portfolio.” Only 2,500 exist in the world!

Most irritating design mistake others make:
Teman: Generic coffee-table books.
Teran: Silk flowers.

Thing you’d like to design next:
Teman: A collection of home accessories in platinum.
Teran: A fierce tie-bar-and-cuff-link set.

Last time you and your brother fought:
Teman: Over a yellow chair for a client, in the middle of the B&B Italia showroom.
Teran: A few days ago, about taking out the trash.