Remember the enchanted rose from “Beauty and the Beast?” It would’ve been nice if its petals didn’t keep falling in that glass container, right?
Romantics, flower enthusiasts and more can bring that idea to life at a Lehigh Valley art and preservation studio.
The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element provides those services at 915 Northampton St. in Easton. Customers can have items like flowers, bouquets, pictures and handkerchiefs pressed and preserved in art frames, coasters or other displays.
If your beloved dog had a favorite Twizzler-like candy, even that can be turned into art (and, it has, according to Element Director of External Communications Nikole Cingari.)
“Having to speak to clients on a daily [basis], I love hearing their love stories, I love seeing their wedding photos, hearing the sentimental details that they have chosen for their wedding,” she said. “Something that really gets me through the day, and it’s really exciting to hear different aspects of different weddings, but also how everybody has similar traditions that they follow too in their weddings is really cool.”
Founder, owner and CEO Amelia Kovacs began the Pressed Bouquet Shop as an online business in 2019. A brick-and-mortar location opened near the Morgan Hill Golf Course and later in Allentown. Both the move to Easton and the creation of the Element parent company occurred in 2024. In addition to preservation, the business also offers workshops and rents out the space for events.
Highlighting how her grandmother and author Sal Paradysz gifted a pressed white rose to Kovacs for her 16th birthday, she realized that “there’s so much sentimentality in preserving those floral moments, whether it’s from a sweet 16 or from a wedding bouquet, and I kind of realized there’s a lot of opportunity with this and preserving those memories through flower arrangements that were once … fresh on that special day.”
Family still plays a role today for the shop, as Kovacs works with her sister Abby Paradysz, the production operations director for Element.
“She was looking for someone to help out with a lot of the logistical stuff at the time and I was previously employed and she was like, ‘Do you know anybody who wants [the] position?’ ” Paradysz said. “And I was like, ‘Funny enough, I will quit my current job and come work for you myself.’ So I obviously envied what she was doing and then thought it was a really cool business and she needed help, so [I] volunteered myself.”
The shop typically operates 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is appointment only, with appointments on the website, at 484-546-2440 and at hello@elementdesign.com.
Resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Amelia Kovacs, CEO and founder of The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, stands with staff members Abby Paradysz and Nikole Cingari in her business Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Pressed flower frame is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Pressed flower frame is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Pressed flower frames and resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Pressed flower frame is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, is seen Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Pressed flower frames are displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Resin art with pressed flowers is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Staff members Abby Paradysz and Nikole Cingari collaborate on floral ideas Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Amelia Kovacs, CEO and founder of The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, stands in her business Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Amelia Kovacs, CEO and founder of The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, stands in her business Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Pressed flower frames are displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Staff members Abby Paradysz and Nikole Cingari collaborate on floral ideas Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Pressed flower frame is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
Resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
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Resin art is displayed Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, at The Pressed Bouquet Shop by Element, which turns wedding bouquets into pressed flower frames and resin art, in Easton. (April Gamiz/The Morning Call)
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Lehigh Valley retail and restaurant news in brief
Ashley’s Signature Restaurant closed until further notice at 229 N. 11th St. in Easton.
The international grocery and produce store Valley Fresh Marketplace will open in the next 2-3 weeks at 1384 Hanover Ave. in Allentown, store manager Eddie Mashraki said.
El Carbonaso Peruvian Restaurant announced its soft opening for Feb. 19 at 2185 W. Union Blvd. in Bethlehem.
La Favorita Grocery Store has become a new U-Haul neighborhood dealer at 1053 E. Third St. in Bethlehem, a news release announced, offering services such as trucks, trailers, towing equipment and moving supplies.
New ‘play cafe’
Chapter Pink Play Cafe will open in May at 1492 Main St., Suite G, in North Catasauqua, said Laila Santiago, who owns the cafe with her sister Brittany Pichardo.
The cafe will offer coffee, espressos, lattes, matcha tea, breakfast croissants, muffins and miniature waffles. It will also host a play area, appropriate for children up to 5 or 6 years of age, that will include a tunnel slide, a play food market and a play fire station.
Santiago said she previously worked as a digital marketing agency recruiter while her sister worked with kids in day care and speech therapy, and that they were inspired to open the cafe after having kids of their own.
“We love coffee, we love going out for a drink of coffee and meeting with our friends, and then obviously we had kids and now it’s like, OK, well, the vibe changed here,” she said. “So we were like, a play cafe would just be good where we have some place where your kids can play and they have their space and you as [a] mom or … catching up with your friend, you also have that same place in the same area.”
She added that while they haven’t decided the hours yet, the cafe will open all week.
Commercial realtor Doug Sandlin of the the James Balliet Property Group under Keller Williams Real Estate, represented both the cafe and the landlord for the lease.
Last day for Unclaimed Freight
After previously announcing a closing sale, Unclaimed Freight manager Robert Hahn said Sunday will be the last day for the furniture store at 2260 Industrial Drive in Bethlehem, citing insufficient revenue and his own health issues.
“Honestly, it’s very sad,” Hahn said. “Spent my whole life pretty much driving to this building, working for this company.”
He added that the store, which opened in the early 1970s, “was an institution. We strove to provide good-quality furniture and low prices for our customers. That’s what the company was founded on, and that’s what I continued with the business. Finding deals, closeouts, to provide excellent prices for our customers. And I do want to go on record by thanking the community for all the years of loyal patronage.”
In other news
Luxe Events & Designs will host a Wedding & Event Experience Expo noon-4 p.m. Sunday at Promenade Saucon Valley in Upper Saucon Township, Luxe owner Barbara Mann said. It will highlight local vendors and trends for weddings and other events.
Retail Watch is a weekly column covering retail and restaurant news in the Lehigh Valley. Have a question, tip, or want to see something in the area? Contact retail reporter Graysen Golter at retailwatch@mcall.com.