Factory Workers: Jay & Jed Johnson

'Jay was the bad boy and Jed was not.'

Tom Cashin

Cecil Beaton with Warhol, Jay and Jed

Tom Cashin would know, he and Jay met in the late 1960's, and have been together ever since.  The Johnson twins, who dropped out of college at 19 in 1967 and hitchhiked with an AWOL soldier from Sacramento to New York.  Soon after their arrival, they entered the orbit of Andy Warhol. Jed accepted a job offer to sweep floors in 'The Factory' and before long they began dating and remained Warhol's lover for 12 years.

Next two shots by Francesco Scavullo

Cashin, a former model, first encountered Warhol while on a trip to Paris with Jay, and like the twins, was soon was wrapped up in the artist's crazy life and lifestyle. The Factory was Andy Warhol's New York City studio and both Jay (above with curly hair) and Jed used their connections to further their passion for interior design.   Jay recounts that Jed was the front person, the leader. Jay was always the more shy and private twin.

Jay (l) and Jed (r)

Jed was not only Jay's best friend but his public half.  Sadly, Jay died suddenly in 1996, in  the explosion of T.W.A. Flight 800.  After Jed's death, Jay suddenly found himself the director of Jed Johnson & Associates, a multi- million dollar interior design firm whose clients included Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Barbra Streisand and Richard Gere.

Next set from Jack Mitchell

'Jed was the front person: he sort of took care of that side for me," Jay Johnson, a soft-spoken man, said several weeks ago, sitting in the living room of the apartment in the meatpacking district of Manhattan that he shares with his partner, Tom Cashin. "I didn't really realize that until he was gone.'

NYTimes

Last week, I found myself on Pinterest while researching a piece.  As I was scrolling through images, I cam upon one of Jack Mitchell's shots of The Johnson Twins.  I immediately stopped in my tracks. The brothers beautiful eyes and faces had me wondering who they were, and why I'd hadn't seen them before.  I've always had a fascination with Andy Warhol, but have focused my attention on Studio 54 and individuals around him, (Joe Dallesandro) than the artist himself.

I saved the image, and after a quick Google search found myself wrapped up in reading about the two brothers.  My siblings are all still alive, but I can only imagine the magnification of grief that must accompany the loss of a twin.  All my friends who are twins, are so connected and identified in comparison with their twin, whether they want to, or whether they're close or not.  I'm guessing we can thank Warhol for connecting the Johnson twins with so many great photographers to have their story, and their beauty, captured for those like me, decades int he future, to see, enjoy, and be moved by.

''We thought we were fabulously beautiful, and so masculine.''

Last two shots from Richard Avedon

The images above and below are part of Avedon's image of Warhol and members of the Factory.