Giving Female Entrepreneurs Offer Designer Socks and Masks

Longtime florist Joanne Graziano has always loved creating the perfect wedding bouquet for local brides and takes great pride in commemorating birthdays, anniversaries, and other joyous occasions.

The co-owner of Domenic Graziano Flowers in Southampton, PA., with her longtime florist husband, Domenic, has three locations (including Warminster and Doylestown) to provide floral arrangements and gift baskets for a myriad of momentous events.

Eight years ago, Graziano decided there was another niche that would serve the community and she welcomed artisans to consign their handcrafted items and created the Artisan Marketplace.
About 20 percent of the artisans are located in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Montgomery countries; the rest are based around the nation.

This started with a local man in her networking group who made beautifully painted drinking glasses. Soon after, the 100 percent Made in America artisan section of the floral shop was born.
In 2012, some 100 artists and artisans were showcasing their unique products, and today there are more than 350 that the Artisan Marketplace is proud to represent; all of them work on consignment and every gift purchased there is wrapped – to the delight of the customers all items leave the store with decorative boxes and ribbon.

The newest addition to this group is Lori Diamond of LoriDiamondArt of Upper Dublin, who specially-designed adult and children’s socks and unique masks: some whimsical, some honor frontline workers, and all of them are sure to make the perfect gift!

Diamond was a floral and gift customer at the flower shop looking for the perfect arrangements for her daughter’s recent wedding when she first met Graziano.

The two entrepreneurs emailed one another and Graziano was immediately smitten with the specially-designed socks on Diamond’s website. “I love that Lori is a go-getter. Lori fits our criteria for artists and artisans – we look for a range of prices and above all, we want quality items.”

“I love the prints on Lori’s socks and I know that children go through a lot of masks,” Graziano said. “We are talking about mugs and tote bags in the future. I am hopeful that her products do well here.”

The wide range of items at Domenic Graziano Flowers includes greeting cards made from Joanne’s artwork, wickless candles, handmade jewelry, ornate Cherry wood bowls, spoons, and other wooden items, picture frames, photo plaques, drinking glasses, handblown glass displayed with lights, mirrors, mugs, popular clay plaques with “cool sayings,” and much more.

“Customers come in and walk around looking at the items and are often here for an hour getting ideas so they know what they want when they come back,” Graziano explained.

“People are extremely appreciative of our American-made requirement,” explained Graziano, “and they say that they want to buy all of their gifts here.”

Diamond, a longtime artist, designer, and Upper Dublin resident, said that when she discovered that children had contracted COVID-19, she knew that she needed to make "magical protective masks."

This is something she took personally. "I put myself in the shoes of a 10-year-old boy or girl who has to wear a mask everywhere I went. I already had lots of Unicorn and Caticorn designs printed on fabric," says Diamond, "and so I worked day and night to make decorative masks that children would not only wear but look and feel cool wearing."

"Being socially-conscious, I want to always design magical items with my fabric,” Diamond said, “and create products that continue to help change the world for the better.”

For further information please go to LoriDiamondArt and Domenic Graziano Flowers.