Inside D'Asign Source

The Evolution of D'Asign Source Over 62 Years

Family-owned and operated D’Asign Source has evolved over the past 62 years from a small cast stone business to a fully turnkey design/build firm that offers architecture, engineering, construction, interior design, electronic integration and landscape architecture services in the Florida Keys. Brothers Tony, Franco and Amedeo D’Ascanio are the second generation to lead the multi-division company, along with six members of generation three helping to grow the business. The portfolio includes luxury home projects, renovations and outdoor environment transformations.

D’Asign Source clients enjoy the advantages of working with a design firm that shares knowledge and experience between its divisions, as well as across the multiple generations working as one team. Cooperation between services, coordination of project flow and singular accountability give clients the confidence that their investment is in good hands.

Franco says, “Our customers who have hired star architects and star contractors in the past for their other homes tell us how hiring the best of everyone doesn’t necessarily result in the finest finished product.” The handoff between architecture, interiors, landscape architecture and the contractors that handle each can leave big gaps, misunderstandings and a lack of accountability, which can lead to less than perfect results and costly overruns. Franco says, “We have to make sure those interfaces are correct and that one project flows to the next, not only in timing, but also in functionality, quality and aesthetics. That’s our advantage. Our in-house capability to perform and manage the whole project, which is much better than incredible design with rough handoffs,” says Franco.

Franco recalls one of these “rough handoffs” from the earlier days of the D’Ascanio family’s business. In the early 1980s, he and his brothers were admiring one of their latest projects—the architecture and construction were beautiful, having evolved beyond the typical boxy cement structures common to the Florida Keys at that time. “But we had the same half a dozen plants as all our neighbors, because we had subbed out the landscaping. The landscaping was not keeping up with the rest of the company,” he says.

They started searching for more interesting plants, but they couldn’t find enough of what they wanted. Franco says, “When we get involved, we get involved deep, so we started our own nursery.” Today, D’Asign Source Botanicals is a wholesale nursery that covers 20 acres in Palm Beach Florida, providing a palette of over 500 species of specimen palms, cycads and other rare tropical plants to supply D’Asign Source projects and other landscape architects and contractors to work with.

Another area where the D’Ascanio family has gotten involved deeply is in the designing of high-performance outdoor audio and lighting systems. With the opening of a 25,000 square-foot design center in 1999, they began not only using products for their own projects, but also selling home furnishings, fixtures and finishes along audio, and lighting systems to fellow contractors, designers and the public. Franco says, “We found we were replacing a lot of outdoor products within a year. The durability, reliability and performance of outdoor products was dismal. We’re in a harsh environment in the Florida Keys, and the manufacturers said, ‘Sorry, no warranty, you’re in a coastal environment.’”

Digging in deep again, they started designing, engineering and testing materials, coatings and finishes, which led to several years of research and development informed by multiple generations of professional experience with the sand, salt, heat and hurricanes of south Florida. Then, in partnership with the Zimmerman Family of New Jersey, who brought manufacturing and distribution experience to the table, Coastal Source was created as a source for high performance durable outdoor audio and lighting equipment built to defy the elements. Franco says, “We’re manufacturing with protection and weathering systems built in to make them not only perform the day we install, but for long periods thereafter.”

Franco, who has been building speakers and lighting systems since his early teens, knows the inner workings of the equipment. The products are made of the highest-quality materials and durable in all harsh conditions, which has made them popular beyond the coast with over 1,000 dealers across the United States.

The products are all plug and play with air and watertight connections that save time on installation and increase reliability and performance. They are built to last, which not only reduces the hassle for clients but is a return to a standard in manufacturing that is often abandoned in the current throwaway culture of cheaper-to-replace products.

High-quality products combined with full-service design is very attractive to D’Asign Source clients who are typically investing in a second, third or fourth home, a destination where the D’Asign teams have taken care to create spaces that draw people out into the entirety of their property. Franco says, “Some of these properties are large. If not executed correctly, people just stay right around the house or in the house. So, we create micro-climates—from amazing pools and outdoor living areas to tropical, shady rainforests, exotic fruit and flower gardens in protected areas.”

Every other year, D’Asign Source organizes the “Palms In Paradise” tour where invitees tour several estate properties and clients share the stories of their homes and gardens. D’Asign Source’s seamless integration of services and experience-driven vision give clients confidence in their choice to invest in the precarious beauty of the Florida Keys.

Get In Touch With...

D’Asign Source
Marathon, Florida

Phone: (305) 743–7130

www.DAsignSource.com

www.DAsignSourceBotanicals.com

 www.CoastalSource.com