Willoughby woman receives design patent for Cozy Noze
Aug. 15—In Lori Diemer's case, necessity is the mother of the Cozy Noze invention, she said.
In the middle of winter in 2014, when she was at Yellowstone National Park, Diemer, a current Willoughby resident and nature photographer, recalls the neck warmer she put on before heading out to take photos.
"I can't photograph without my glasses and it was minus-30 there," Diemer said. "I had a neck warmer, put it on, went outside and my glasses iced up. I went to Joann Fabrics and I 'MacGyvered' a fuzzy piece of wire. I sewed it in, bent it around my nose and it blocked all the air."
Since that time, Diemer's solution evolved into what is now Cozy Noze. In April of this year, Diemer received her design patent for the dual purpose product of keeping steam away from eyeglasses, as well as warming the face and neck.
"I drew up the ideas, the drawings, the step-by-step for the patent process and started in 2020," she said. "I applied for two patents — a design patent and a utility patent. I'm still patent pending in that there's one out there that still has to come, but the design of it is officially patented. I got my United States patent, so people can't knock it off. It's exciting."
In 2019, the Cozy Noze engineer was just about to turn off the TV when she heard, "If you have an idea you'd like to see brought to market, enter our competition." After submitting her prototype and her idea into the local entrepreneurial competition somewhat similar to "Shark Tank," Diemer ended up being a semifinalist.
"That afforded me an hour with two young interns who interviewed me," she said. "I couldn't find that fuzzy wire anymore, so they're like, 'Come up with three or four different ways to create that.' I came up with what Cozy Noze is now and they said, 'For $400, you can join. We need your analytics, sales, your demographic.' I wanted to see if they get sold first."
Diemer was working at The Holden Arboretum in Kirtland at the time.
"They have a holiday gift shop," she said. "I made a bunch by hand in my back room and I sold like 60 of them. So, what's the next step? Kevin Goodman, who works for Rankin and Hill, was my patent lawyer and was also part-time at Holden. I said, take me through the process."
When she researched all the other face warmers out there, Diemer didn't find anything like hers. Since starting Cozy Noze, she began with an online store with Weebly (website creator) and now has a full-time Shopify website that will take customers to her store where they can see all the patterns they can order online. She also has local pickup at her home.
Prices range from $15 to $25, according to Diemer's website.
Diemer's creation can still be worn as a neck warmer, but the option to pull it up to bend it around the nose and cheeks is there. Diemer's demographic started out with photographers, but she now reaches hikers, skiers, dog walkers, hunters, ice fishermen, bird watchers, sports spectators and motorcycle enthusiasts. In addition to some custom displays she made for a trade show in Massachusetts, Diemer has sold to Canada, coast to coast in the United States and overseas.
"It's kind of funny because I'm a nature photographer and I designed it for photographers," she said. "My logo designer in Canada said, 'It's an ages old problem and you just solved it.' "
Diemer is currently licensed with Realtree, a camouflage company, but she cannot license with the NFL or something similar due to the cost, she said. However, for her sports enthusiast customers, Diemer can make orange and brown ones for Cleveland Browns fans, as well as red and gray for Ohio State. In addition, she is able to do blue and gold for Kirtland depending on the availability.
"I have a woman in North Royalton who makes them for me although I can make them myself if I need to," Diemer said. "She can make 300 in a week because she's got the staff. I'm excited to see where it goes. I was outside watering my plants and some of my neighbors came by, and she goes, 'I'm on the boosters for high school sports.' It's a seasonal thing, but the cold weather's coming soon, so I'm excited about the boosters."
Diemer plans to sell her neck warmers at Wildwood Cultural Center in Mentor this year and The West Woods in Geauga County. She also plans to create scarves for homeless shelters out of leftover fleece.
"I'm comfortable with how it's going now," Diemer said. "I would go on Shark Tank in a minute, but I have thought about going in retail. I've got to get that niche and it's the scaling up manufacturing wise that I'm not 100% on."
The Cozy Noze neck warmers are machine washable and offered in a variety of hues and patterns, including plaid, tie-dye, rainbow and cat- or wildlife-inspired looks. Diemer's interest in sewing began when her mother taught her how to make clothes for Barbie dolls. She later used her skills to stitch much larger pieces such as draperies while working at the Fine Arts Association in Willoughby where she served as technical director from the early 1990s to 2002.
"I'm an artist," Diemer previously told The News-Herald. "I'm not a huge business person...maybe in the future. Right now, I'm just in the simmer stage. They (Shark Tank) like to know numbers. I have to be a little more successful before I go on there."
