Chic Spotlight: Agricola Redesign’s Diane Agricola
Cincy Chic: This is our Holiday Shopping issue, and Agricola Redesign has a wonderful class coming up called "Christmas Decorating Class: Creating a Hostess Gift." Can you tell readers a little more about this event?
Agricola Redesign Owner Diane Agricola: The holiday season is filled with invitations, and we all want to say thank you to our hosts in a special way. We designed this class to help party goers get more creative than a bottle of wine or poinsettia plant purchased on the way to the event. With just a bit of advance planning and using some of the great ideas we present in this class, you can be the guest who wows the host with a unique, affordable thank you gift that anyone can handle — no Martha Stewart required!
Cincy Chic: Gifts are a major part of the holiday season, so why are those hostess gifts so important to remember?
Agricola: Hostess gifts say thank you long after the event is over. We want our hostess to know how much fun we had at the party she worked hard to plan. The best way to do this is with a thoughtful gift selected or created with that special host in mind.
Cincy Chic: Beyond the class, Agricola Redesign also has a retail boutique called A Village Gift Shop. How can this shopping opportunity help readers check off their gift list?
Agricola: At our gift shop, the goal is to offer gifts that are a little different from the standard department store offerings. We’re always looking for items that are made by smaller companies, local artisans, hand-selected by us for the customer who is looking for a unique and special gift.
Women love great jewelry. We have many great jewelry choices — wonderful and affordable bracelets, necklaces and earrings to sparkle and shine this holiday season. We feature the Chamilia bead jewelry line offering sterling silver bracelets, earrings and necklaces and a great selection of sterling silver, Swarovski crystal and Murano glass beads. We offer a wide selection of seasonal items for holiday decor gifts, including lots of great tree ornaments and the Scentsible Scents jar candles made locally in Ohio.
For the guys on the gift list, we stock a fun selection of unique wine stoppers and other barware. For that quick gift on the go, we also have a number of pre-wrapped gifts, perfect for an office or book club gift exchange or for the friends you want to remember with a special little something.
Cincy Chic: What are a few of the great stocking stuffers you have in store to recommend to readers?
Agricola: Who doesn’t love opening a great stocking? Not us — it’s one of our favorite parts of the holiday! We have collected a fun and affordable selection of stocking stuffers: tiny LED snowmen and Santas, colorful ornaments, lots of unique key chains, handcrafted wool felt pencil toppers, the cutest little resin birds wearing stocking hats and adorable zipper hair bands, to name just a few.
Cincy Chic: When you aren’t working with clients and customers, what do you like to do for fun?
Agricola: I love to travel to new destinations and the adventure of new places and people. Traveling serves as a source of inspiration for me — enjoying unique shopping experiences, seeing new ways to approach interior design in the places I visit. When I return to Cincinnati, I bring these experiences into my work in our gift shop and the interior redesign business.
Cincy Chic: What do you love most about Cincinnati?
Agricola: Through my redesign business, I have spent time all over the greater Cincinnati area, and wherever I go, I love the hometown feeling that is apparent in all these different neighborhoods. Cincinnati has a wonderful small town quality, it’s a place where people care about their neighbors and take pride in their homes and their communities, East side to West side and everywhere in between!
