Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your business.

Doubleparlour is an artistic collaboration between Ernie and Cassandra Velasco. We are a husband and wife team who create art and crafts in a variety of mediums including drawings, prints, paintings and polymer clay sculptures. Some work is done together, but most work is done as a solo effort. We formed the business originally to sell artwork on-line together, but have since expanded out to galleries and craft faires.

How did you first get involved with crafting?

Cassandra began drawing as a child, and since then has tried different mediums, some with more success then others. Primarily a self-taught artist, Ernie started making artwork about 5 years ago after many years spent playing music and creating desserts.

What are your favorite materials to work with? Do you have a favorite color palette?

We love to work with polymer clay, paper, paint, ink, canvas, and cloth.  Ernie is partial to unbleached white and red. Cassandra is fond of burnt sienna and phalo blue.

What are your inspirations in your art and in life?

In art, the main themes and inspiration are natural science, human behavior, and arcitecture.. In life, I would say we both are influenced by music, coincidence, family, museums, friends, travel, realizations, city life and irony.

What is your favorite song or album to listen to while working?

There’s so much good music out there right now, but  i must say Matt Elliot and Krallice are on top of my (Ernie) list at the moment.   Cassandra is listening to M.Ward, Cat Power, Fiery Furnaces, Dept. of Eagles, Beirut…to name a few.

Who are some of your favorite indie artist/crafters and why do you love them?

There are so many artists and crafters who are so amazing…I love just wandering through galleries, museums, Etsy and seeing all the fruits of poeple’s imaginations. So, to name just a few…we love the sculptures of I Love Grey Skies (on Etsy) and the street art of Swoon. Also, my sister makes the most incredible primitive folk art dolls under the name Raggedraven (on Etsy and Ebay).

Any exciting future plans or developments in the works for your business?

Well, we would like to perhaps show in more galleries and faires…..and just keep expanding our on-line sales on Etsy.  Etsy has created a wonderful community of artists and crafters that we feel lucky to be a part of. This is our first San Francisco Bazaar, so we are looking forward to it.

Check out some great stuff from Doubleparlour at:

 www.doubleparlour.etsy.com