Palmerino and Margaret D’Ascanio were born in Italy in 1932. Twenty-three years later they married. Rino worked on the family farm and Margaret was a seamstress. In 1958 they discovered the opportunity in a prosperous new land, the United States.

After arriving in America, Rino worked maintaining the estates of several prominent residents in Grassy Key. Those property owners recognized Rino’s talents, so maintenance projects soon became light construction projects. One owner requested a concrete decorative wall for privacy around his estate; Rino developed his own wooden molds to produce ornamental concrete blocks. Hence, Ornamental Cement Products was born! From these humble beginnings, Rino and Margaret diversified into other cement products, such as patio tables, garden ornaments, benches, fountains and the popular tourist souvenir – concrete pelicans. One of their most successful products was the butterfly step tread used on many Florida Keys homes. Over 300,000 hand-made pieces have been produced since Ornamental Cement Products moved from Grassy Key to Marathon in 1968. The D’Asign Source company motto, Dream. Design. Build., evolved from Ornamental Cement Products original motto, We Make, We Sell, We Install.