To begin with I would like to ask your opinion about those who seek more intense and particular sensations when it comes to sex.

There are still many misconceptions around those who enjoy pushing the boundaries between pleasure and pain. People who appreciate more intense and impactful sensations have a higher threshold for pain. Our perception is very subjective, what one person may consider “discomfort” may send another person to Paradise! More direct, full body sensations fling open the doors to what I call the body’s natural “feel-good pharmacy”. Beta-endorphines, dopamine, and serotonine are happy hormones, that are emitted into the blood stream when we explore the body as sensual whole over extended periods of sexual stimulation. Beta-endorphines in particular have a chemical formula that resembles that of opioids. Their effects are just one of the benefits that people who enjoy more intense sensations are seeking — and the same natural body “drug” that makes us feel good also acts as a natural painkiller. So you see, it’s not pain, it’s the natural high that comes with the ecstatic experience that we are looking for. Fast phallocentric sex does not unveil the body’s full pleasure potential and those who look for more intense sensations actually need them to perceive pleasure.

I would definitely consider your creations as artefacts. In fact, you have exhibited them in museums and showrooms through the years. How do you see your work through erotic art and design history?

When I first started designing the erotic collection in the early 90s, my work frightened people as much as it fascinated them. Because our sexuality and more specifically sexual pleasure is still a taboo subject, believe it or not, I still work hard to keep my work in the light. Thanks to open-minded collectors, curators, and journalists like yourself the work was gradually institutionalised. When I was invited to exhibit “The Boudoir Box” at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2017, I knew that I had made a mark, not only as a designer, but as an artist and craftswoman too. I work in many media and this permitted me to bolster my mission as it expanded and as I matured. If I was banned in one arena, I would step in another. The process was organic and perseverance is just part of my character. I never give up!

Let’s talk about the “Sado-Chic” collection and the duality of what you call “jewel-tools”. How and when did you start designing the erotic collection?

In 1992, I coined the term “Sado-Chic” to name a collection of designs inspired by “Histoire d’O”, the infamous book written by Anne Desclos in 1954. At the time, I was 24 years old and living in Florence, Italy, where I taught goldsmithing and modeled to make ends meet too. I was naive and I had no idea how this collection would come to shape my career over the years to come. The object that made me realise that I was onto something important is a detachable 3 piece set composed of a ring, bracelet and chain. I was wearing this “Sado-Chic” set the day I had my epiphany. It was during a dinner with an intimate friend and at some point, I took the ring off of my finger and slid it onto his. I instantly felt a sort of electrical charge that reinforced my sense of connection to this special man. I asked him if he felt what I felt and he said to me, “Look at my arm…” He had goosebumps and so did I. In that moment, he belonged to me and I belonged to him, but we both also realised that we belonged to something bigger. This experience convinced me that jewelry can have more than a decorative, symbolical, talismanic and of course intrinsic value. It could also reinforce our intimate pleasure bonds.

A few years ago in New York City I had the honour to visit an event hosted by you with a Shibari performance by Marie Sauvage. You did a reading from your book “The Boudoir Bible” and gave a wonderful talk about the importance of sexual pleasure in our lives. Could you tell our readers more about that night in New York?

It feels like another life ago! The event harked back to the days when I hosted “sexual wellbeing workshops” regularly in capital cities around the world. There were so many sexual barriers to hurdle at the time that I had to teach in order to continue creating my erotic pieces. My workshops were fun, it was a totally new concept and they were definitely enlightening, but they were very exclusive, everything but democratic.