Who better to trust in creating your sex toys than a science major? Raven V. Faber, a Colorado-based sextech pioneer and former professional engineer who is bringing high-tech pleasure to the people with EngErotics, an emerging brand of smart, sensual products.
Short for “Engineered Erotics,” Faber explains that the EngErotics brand was founded in response to the lack of design guidelines for quality and safety in the sexual wellness industry. She was also faced with the starkly white landscape of an industry that hadn't yet embraced racial inclusivity.
“While the market has always been full of pleasure product companies, I didn’t see any Black-owned engineering companies that just so happened to specialize in sexual wellness,” says Faber.
“I saw a great need for the presence of more engineers and scientists in the sexual wellness industry,” she highlights. “More importantly, I saw a great need for representation within sextech as a whole.”
From the viewpoint of a woman of color, Faber sees the industry through a much different lens than her white, male CEO counterparts. She believes that if we want to see the pleasure space evolve within our lifetime, more people of color and those with scientific backgrounds need to step forward.
“We’ve still got a long way to go, though,” says Faber. “There’s still so much work to be done within the industry.”
Faber, however, has been putting in said work since day one.
While in graduate school and studying engineering, Faber grew interested in an extra-curricular side gig: selling sex toys.
Raised in a sex-positive home, Faber saw no issue in pursuing such a then-taboo gig. She wound up in direct sales for over a decade, honing her skills and knowledge of sex toy design, which were undoubtedly supplemented by an engineer's mind.
“Selling vibrators to rooms full of women seemed to be a natural fit, so I decided to give it a try, not knowing that I’d become very good at it,” she recalls. “It was such a valuable learning experience for me.”
Faber worked in the corporate world as a structural engineer during the week and held pleasure product parties on the weekends. She became a natural at all the staples of sex toy industry success, like sales and networking, participating in vendor events, and understanding product materials.
Faber's engineering brain finally got the best of her and she began to outgrow the brand-name resale scene. After pondering on endless ways to improve product design for roughly two to three years, Faber realized it was time to bring her own ideas to market.
“Our ideal consumer has discerning taste,” says Faber of her current customer base. “They want a pleasure product that is carefully thought-out and well-made, and they are willing to pay a bit more for it.”
Faber's goal is to refine the public's interest in sex and technology with a curated collection of EngErotics-labeled toys and CBD lubes, along with a small selection of other manufacturers' brands that fit Faber's ethics and quality standards.
The idea, Faber says, is for consumers to skip the endless scrolling through page after page of standard sex toys. The EngErotics consumer — and the majority of the market, according to Faber — wants to only be presented with the best.
The 'Shroom vibrator is an EngErotics-branded toy that's impossible to miss; it's shaped exactly like a palm-sized mushroom, albeit made of silicone and stiff enough not to be crushed under pressure. The 'Shroom puts a whimsical spin on the classic external vibe, with nine functions and an obviously discreet design that could easily be mistaken for a cosmetic product.
The DimiVibe, another of Faber's proprietary creations, is a two-in-one vibrator that brings the best of both internal and external worlds. Also boasting nine motor functions, the DimiVibe features a long, textured end for insertion or broader vulva stimulation, while the shorter, indented end focuses on more direct clitoral sensations. DimiVibe provides all the power of a wand-style toy combined with the portability of a vibrating bullet.
Faber says she's most proud of her line of CBD body care collection. The EngErotics Oh!Nectar — a vitamin-rich massage oil comprised of natural oils, plant extracts, and fragrance — won the award for Best CBD Topical at the USA CBD Expo earlier this year.
“The CBD industry suffers from the same lack of design and manufacturing standards for product safety and quality that the pleasure product industry does, so this is just one more area in which engineering and science have an opportunity to shine,” says Faber.
The EngErotics CBD collection also includes the Soothing Salve Stick, a solid lotion stick that blends nourishing oils, butters and pure hemp-derived CBD into a convenient, purse or tote-friendly twist-up tube. Salve Sticks are touted for either erotic play or plain ol' pain relief from sore muscles, and come in two CBD variations: the regular strength stick containing 500 mg of CBD and the extra-strength stick with 1,000 mg of CBD.
“As more people begin to discover all the ways in which CBD can enhance the sexual experience, it is of the utmost importance that CBD-infused sexual wellness products be formulated to be safe and effective,” she highlights.
Faber is looking to branch out her brand with an all-encompassing sales approach that leaves no client or consumer behind.
“We’d absolutely love to work with retailers and distributors so that more people can get to know EngErotics,” says Faber. “We have had the pleasure of wholesaling for several independent projects in the health and sexual wellness spaces and it’s been a pure joy working with people who are as excited about sexual wellness as we are.”
Faber currently sells direct to consumers through the EngErotics.com website while also offering wholesale options for the B2B space.
The company plans on growing and scaling for the remainder of 2020, and though COVID-19 admittedly slowed down Faber's progress, she's working hard to complete her business goals before the end of the year.
“We’re currently working on getting into retail stores and establishing relationships with distributors,” says Faber. “COVID has created a packaging shortage and delays in getting raw materials, so it’s been taking a bit longer to get things done. Despite this, business has continued to increase, and manufacturing has continued to move forward.”
At the end of the day, Faber says EngErotics is more than just a way for her to make a better, more satisfying living. Faber created her brand to join the big leagues of change-makers who've pushed the pleasure industry to its current status of greatness.
“There are lots of companies that are doing great work for the purpose of making the pleasure product industry better in all sorts of ways, and many of those companies were doing this work long before EngErotics was ever on my mind’s radar,” Faber points out.
Faber's mission is to be the ideal brand she wishes she had back in her direct sales days of throwing home sex-toy parties.
“[Today's consumers] value company transparency and education on the product they are buying, and they expect the company they are shopping with to provide them with both,” she concludes.
