SAN FRANCISCO—Minna Life announced that the company’s pleasure product, Ola, has been honored by the prestigious Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) with the IDEA prize for design excellence.
The International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) is recognized as the preeminent international design competition, and referred to as “the Oscars of Design.”
Minna Life is a company founded by designers who pride themselves on a commitment to intuitive, human-centered design.
For more than 30 years, the IDEA program has recognized new products that advance design excellence in sustainability, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts.
“It's not only for our sake that we feel touched by this award,” company officials said in a press release. “It was never just about making a beautiful object or an innovative user interface. We view it from a broader perspective as the design community acknowledges and validates our mission to elevate human sexuality products into the health and lifestyle category.
“Once relegated behind the seedy curtains of yesteryear, pleasure products now transcend the novelty sex toy genre to be part of the normalized discourse of healthy human sexuality,” the PR continued. “Granted this sounds very high-minded but we think there's been a true need to bring a natural experience to the way women and couples engage in play to discover pleasure of their own design.”
“Ola is an extension of the body and not just a toy to be held,” said John Pelochino, CEO of Minna Life. “When we began developing Ola, the challenge was to take the traditional vibrator interface and create a more intuitive and ergonomic experience.”
The result of that endeavor was a new kind of vibrator, one that gives people the means to create and control their own unique path to a pleasurable and healthy sex life.
The official award presentation will be the highlight of the The Future is … IDSA's 2012 International Conference in Boston where the IDEA’s highest distinction, Best in Show, will be unveiled to the community of design professionals. The Ola vibrator design will take it's place in the annual gallery of IDEA winners and can be viewed online. Along with the IDEA 2012 media partners, Curve magazine, Core 77 and Yanko Design, Minna Life applauds the innovative concepts and creations that were presented this year.
For more information, visit MinnaLife.com.
