Even in these bleak economic times, people are still having sex—with each other, with themselves. And some of these people still have money, a lot of it, and choose to spend that money on the highest quality, most beautiful, and innovative “pleasure objects” they can find.
For those people, Sweden's LELO offers LUXE, a line of beautifully designed, truly sophisticated toys for the luxury customer. According to the company website, LELO’s business concept is to “design, develop, produce, and retail stylish and functional pleasure objects for women and their partners. Through a special blend of Scandinavian design, brand philosophy, and an attractive price range, we provide a cutting-edge, high-quality alternative to conventional erotic toys.”
LELO was founded in September 2003 by designers Carl Magnuson and Eric Kalén and Ericsson industrial engineer Filip Sedic. The company was built on the concept that sex toys could not only provide physical pleasure, but also be visually appealing. Sales and marketing manager Shaye Saldana said of the company’s origins: “The fact that sex toys were widely available but poorly considered—and, even less, well designed—was a fact that the LELO brand tackled head on. Seven worldwide offices and thousands of grateful customers later, LELO continues to lead the way in beautifully imagined, perfectly designed, and ultimately gratifying sex toys for the countless customers who desire the very best in pleasure.”
“Research and development is a hallmark of every LELO product. We don’t create products to fit into categories—clitoral stimulators, anal toys, G-spot stimulators, etc.—rather, we look very closely at the way sex toys are designed, what they’re intended to do, and how to best achieve that functionality. As a result, and in conjunction with an industrial design team well versed in the sexual needs of our customers, we are able to produce sex toys that create a sort of seamless gratification that is the result of design, research, and understanding,” Saldana said.
“Our creation process is second to none: We don’t need our customers to worry about phthalate-free, medical-grade silicon, intuitive controls, or battery-free operation—we’ve considered these issues on our own. All our customers need to know is that buying a LELO product means they’ve bought the very best in sexual stimulation and pure pleasure. We’ve built our company on the ability to provide the very best in every category.”
Pleasure is a serious business, and Saldana is quick to point out how much thought goes into creating this luxury line.
“Our Yva model, for example, is the result of ergonomic studies as to how women use clitoral stimulators; simply put, we have designed a luxury version of the most satisfying vibrator on the market. Likewise, our Earl, Olga, and Inez models are extraordinarily functional pleasure objects wrapped in the most luxurious and decadent skin available on the market—these are toys for those who think pleasure has no boundaries.”
Even the choice of using metal for the LUXE line was a carefully considered design element: The company touts the line for its “sensual use of temperature” during play.
“Metals—even precious metals—are great thermo-conductors,” explained Saldana. “Obviously, we want our LUXE line to provide something more than just beautiful objects and bragging rights. Hot and cold stimulation is a wonderful way of accessing unexplored erogenous zones, and our LUXE line allows for that exploration even while being embodied by materials that people consider delicate or precious. We invite our user to use hot or cold water to pre-prepare our pleasure objects—precious metal doesn’t have to mean precious use.”
The four separate items that comprise the line have been carefully chosen for a particular purpose—and there’s something for everybody here: Yva is the clitoral stimulator, Olga the women’s dildo, Inez is the women’s vibrator, and Earl is a plug for men.
“Clearly, our separate products in the LUXE line are designed for their own erotic purposes,” Saldana stressed. “That being said, there is a common design theme that spans the category—and it’s not what you may think. While ‘luxury’ is certainly the easiest term to describe 18-karat, gold-plated sex toys, it does no justice to the inherently functional purpose behind each creation.”
For Saldana, the LUXE line is all about choice. “[S]ex toys are an ultimately personal purchase—one could use a LELO product designed for G-spot stimulation for clitoral pleasure, and if a customer finds unexpected enjoyment with our G-spot-specific toys, then we’re very happy. To answer the question, clitoral stimulators are designed for exactly that—clitoral stimulation—while vibrators can be of more general use. However, every person has their own erogenous zones, and we’re not here to tell users how to best utilize our products. If you’re getting off and having fun, believe us, we’re happy.”
Pleasure has its price, and the cost for items from the LUXE line range anywhere from $600 for the silver Earl man’s anal plug to $10,500 for the 18-karat, gold-plated Inez vibrator for women.
Saldana admits these items are pricey—but worth it. “Our LUXE line is expensive—we’re not hiding the fact. [But], sexuality is a part of every person and some people are willing to spend their money to celebrate the sexual part of their persons … our LUXE products are designed to be physically beautiful regardless of their inherent purpose. If you can afford to have the most beautiful, stunning, and at the same time, most gratifying sex toy the world has to offer … why wouldn’t you?”
For more information, visit LELO.com.
