Fortitude Valley | Gentlemen, Looking to Freshen Your Look? This is Where it’s At
Author Shannon Edwards // Place New Farm
Inspired by the great, and oh-so stylish, Frank Sinatra’s Palm Springs home, Twin Palms has made its mark on James street.
With a crisp and sleek interior, Twin Palms is channeling serious Cali vibes and has just become the trendiest place to get your hair done.
Not only will the boys provide you with a warm towel and cold drink, but the barbers will leave you looking like a million bucks.
We spoke to the owners, Tim Persley and Adrian Mezzina about where the great concept comes from and what to expect when walking into the Twin Palms Barbershop.
How did Twin Palms come about?
The Twin Palms story is a pretty simple one, a barber concept is something that we had been throwing around for a while and with both of us having worked and lived in this area for a long time James Street as a location was an obvious choice.
A perfect space popped up and had a real Palm Springs look to the exterior, we teamed up with local designer Alexa Nice who moved away from the vintage/rockabilly barber shop vibe.
Instead we went with a clean palette and natural wood features playing into the 1950’s Californian design movement, keeping the exposed cement roof and floor.
Twin Palms was the name of Frank Sinatra's Palm Springs house and the classic male grooming of that period is something that we've always been fascinated by.
Has this always been a passion of yours?
Our background is in marketing, events and hospitality.
We feel like, as most guys, the regular haircut is an inevitable part of life and absolutely
contributes to how you present yourself and how you feel.
We love the experience of a good haircut, the time in the chair is a ritual, a short escape from the outside world throwing some banter around and leaving feeling a million bucks.
We've had a fair few haircuts in our time and visited some amazing barbers and hairdressers on a regular basis along the way.
For us, it’s all about offering the best parts of those experiences to our clients every time they sit in a Twin Palms chair.
What do you think people will love about Twin Palms?
We have a great team headed up by Pené Thompson, a barber and stylist with years of experience who has built up a strong following in the local area.
We're not trying to reinvent the wheel with Twin Palms. Our offering is simple, consistent and convenient.
Due to the busy modern lifestyle and people being increasingly time poor, the lunchtime or Saturday morning cut with long wait periods for an available barber is just not practical.
We offer online appointments and have introduced 'late nite cuts' mid week, opening until 8pm every night.
So whether it's for a quick trim, full cut, beard shape and style or cut throat shave, you can be in and out in 30 mins looking sharp.
Walk-ins are still definitely catered for and all services include a wash, hot towel and whiskey or beer thanks to local brewers, Green Beacon and Newstead Brewing Co.
Is there a general style you've seen emerging since you've opened Twin Palms?
In the words of our head barber Pené, "it's always about working with each individual's head of hair but with summer coming it's a seasonal move towards shorter lengths and light texture.
Products with a neutral finish will take centre stage teamed with workable hair sprays. Our advice is to back away from the greasy pomades. Sides are being kept fresh and crisp with clean edges and the overlook is manicured, yet natural."
What do you like about being in Fortitude Valley?
There's a great atmosphere around The Valley and Newstead/Teneriffe/New Farm area in general - there’s always something on, it has fantastic people and we're excited to be on James street amongst so many good local businesses and events.