WHITEWALL: Upon Further Reflection Shines Light on AAPI Designers at 3.1 Phillip Lim →

“It is an ongoing privilege to work with so many talented female-identified designers and to be able to shine a much-needed spotlight on the AAPI creative community,” said Appleton. “Allowing people of all ages to see themselves reflected in others inspired this exhibition, and enables me to help enlighten others on how broad and dynamic the global community of female-driven AAPI studios in design is.”

ELLE DECOR: This Reflective Exhibition Is an Elegant Chorus of AAPI Design Voices →

For many, art is a way to communicate what we struggle to say with words—and for 20 female-identifying Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) designers, a NYCxDESIGN exhibition provides an avenue for just that. The show, titled Upon Further Reflection, challenges the concept of mirroring and reflection through art.

SURFACE: Upon Further Reflection →

A dynamic group of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) female-identified designers like Ellen Pong, Caroline Chao, Rosie Li, and Ti Chang are coming together to present a series of works addressing the ideas of reflection through surface exploration, materiality, and self-discovery. Co-curated by the Female Design Council and Tortuga Forma in partnership with the AAPI Design Alliance, the exhibition will showcase an array of never-before-seen pieces in a diverse range of artist mediums, inviting viewers to ponder and question their own reflections. The show promises an inclusive space where the talents and narratives of AAPI female-identifying designers can flourish.

VOGUE ITALIA: I nuovi sex toys sono collane e anelli. Da indossare. →

Sex toys. Ma in versione collane e anelli. È la sex jewelry creata da Ti Chang. Che abbiamo intervistato.

Chi pensa ai sex toys come a degli accessori da tenere relegati nel cassetto del comodino, è fuori strada. Diventati da tempo oggetti di design da esporre in spazi ben visibili della casa, adesso hanno fatto uno step ulteriore e si indossano come gioielli. Anzi, lo sono a tutti gli effetti. È l’idea della designer Ti Chang che, con il suo brand Crave propone sex jewels, ovvero collane che, all’occorrenza, si trasformano in vibratori, e anelli che diventano stimolatori clitoridei.  

COSMOPOLITAN: 21 Powerful Vibrators You Can Buy Right Now →

For anyone who enjoys vibrators that come with high speeds, lots of power, and intense vibrations, it might be time to invest in something more heavy duty. But if you're wondering what exactly makes a vibrator more powerful than the rest, we've got all the answers.

Generally speaking, if you're wanting a vibrator that vibrates very intensely, you'll want to look at the toy's RPMs, says Marla Renee Stewart, a sexologist and sexpert for Lovers sexual wellness retailer and brand.

"The higher RPM, the stronger the vibration. The heavier the counterweight, the deeper the vibration," adds Peter Ovsonka, the president and CEO of ZALO USA, an intuitive pleasure tech brand.

But that doesn't mean every toy with a super powerful motor is going to be amazing. Ovsonka explains toys also need to be balanced, so the vibration energy goes where it needs to go (like the contact area) and not anywhere else (like the handle, which would make your arm super tired).

Typically, wand vibrators have the greatest RPMs and the larger surface areas provide a powerful, overall stimulation. But suction vibes, which mimic the effects of oral sex, have a good reputation too.

Regardless though, Ti Chang, the vice president of design at CRAVE, says that "what's 'powerful' to someone with a sensitive clitoris may not be enough for another person."And since "pleasure is highly diverse and depending on external factors such as stress/menstruation/medication, sensitivity can change from time to time," Chang adds.

For that reason, it's super important to try out a bunch of different vibrators and options to see what works best for you. Because, again, what works for someone else may not work for you.

So here are some of the most powerful vibrators out on the market right now that experts recommend. From the iconic Magic Wand, to powerful rabbits, and everything else in between, chances are one of these vibes will become your new go-to. Enjoy!

THENEXTWEB: Sex toy design has a lot to teach big tech →

Design, at its heart, should be about making things better. Whether aesthetically or experientially, the craft should operate as a seamless bridge between a product’s function and the person operating it.

The thing is, I’m just not sure that’s the case any longer.

Over the past few years, it seems that design has become less user focused, concentrating far more on keeping us addicted and hooked, rather than actually improving our lives.

I wanted to find out if this was true, or if I’m spouting nonsense. To dig deeper, I spoke with Ti Chang, the VP of Design at Crave, a luxury sex toy company. I mean, what could be better than talking with someone who makes a product that’s so utterly committed to user experience?

I put the question straight to Chang: does she think design is less user focused?

“It’s not that simple,” she told me. Instead, Chang thinks the industry has shifted and now it’s focused more on user experience.

The difference is designers create a type of experience and incentivize certain types of behavior.

Take social media apps for instance. Here, the focus is on making the experience addictive, rather than the user’s wellbeing. And is indicative of the shift that has undertaken big tech design.

THE STRATEGIST: We Tested 25 Fancy Vibrators to Find the Best →

It’s been three years since we first wrote about the new class of high-design vibrators, the ones that look less like penises (or rabbits) and more like objets d’art. Since then, we have seen a steady influx of sculptural vibrators that can be purchased everywhere from Anthropologie to Walmart and left out on a nightstand without catching a second glance. These vibrators could not appear more different from what’s been available in the past, which Lisa Finn, brand manager at Babeland, calls “a lot of large, pink, sparkly phallic machines.” Instead, they are designed to ergonomically fit a wide array of bodies, delivering powerful orgasms while passing for a prop from a tasteful Instagram photo shoot or a knickknack found on the bookshelf in someone’s Zoom background. Companies such as Maude, Tenga, Dame, and Crave now sell sex toys the same way any other wellness or lifestyle product is sold. The cool, placid branding makes a deliberate point: Carnal pleasure doesn’t need to be raunchy, gendered, or silly. It can just be nice (not to mention nice-looking).

We asked Finn and Dr. Manuela Maria Vazquez, board-certified OB/GYN and founder of LaMaria, for advice on picking the best high-design vibes. Check the materials, they say. Medical-grade or body-safe silicone is nonporous and therefore more hygienic — and it feels more sensual against your skin. In addition, Vazquez tells us that with her own patients, she suggests reading the reviews and asking friends what toys they like, if you’re comfortable with that. As best as you can, have a sense of whether your anatomy responds to external or internal stimulation and whether you prefer strong, rumbling vibrations or more tingly, buzzing sensations, as this is what will most determine how much pleasure you get out of whatever you buy. And pay attention to how a device charges — people have surprisingly strong opinions about USB cords versus magnetic ports.

To find the best new high-design vibrators — the ones that work so well you’d recommend them to a friend — we asked 14 women (who preferred to remain anonymous) to test-drive best-selling toys from Womanizer, Maude, Dame, Crave, We-Vibe, Lelo, Tenga, and Je Joue, as well as a few highly anticipated celebrity-endorsed options. Of the 25 they tested, 19 made the cut. To help us compare and contrast vibrators, we asked testers to consider a long list of criteria, including material, mechanics, ease of use, aesthetics, price, packaging, and overall satisfaction. Each tester was given a period of two weeks to fully get to know the toy they were testing. To help distinguish one person’s opinion from the next, we have given each tester a letter from A to N. And because there are new vibrators launching all the time (most notably one from Goop that has been sold out for four weeks straight and Maude’s new Drop vibrator), we will continue to add products to this list as we are able to test them.

YANKO DESIGN: The Top 10 female industrial designers who are shattering traditions + tackling gender inequality with their product designs! →

A while ago, one of Yanko Design’s Instagram posts played a huge role in exposing and shedding light on the gender bias in the design world. The viral post raised awareness on the experiences of women in industrial design, and also the amount of appreciation, recognition, and exposure they truly deserve but do not always receive. In an ode to amazing female designers and the mindblowing work they do, we’ve curated a collection of innovative product designs – all of them created by women ONLY.  From tech to furniture to architecture, there’s no design industry, left untouched by women and their creative enigma! It’s a women’s world, and it’s time we celebrate it!

This guest post comes from our contributing author Kristi Bartlett.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF ART: Ti Chang →

FOR ALUMNI

• MY GENERATIONRCA

• TI CHANG

Ti Chang

(MA Design Products, 2007)

• Vesper Touch & Tease and Vesper Necklace

• Vesper Touch & Tease and Vesper Necklace

• Vesper Touch & Tease and Vesper Necklace

Ti Chang (MA Design Products, 2007) is a design activist-entrepreneur bridging modern design and social impact. She is the co-founder and VP of Design at CRAVE, a San Francisco-based company specialising in aesthetic pleasure products. Ti’s first design at CRAVE was the world's first crowdfunded sex toy. Since then, Ti has continued to lead the product vision and design for the company’s full line of products, including its celebrated sex jewellery. She is credited with mainstreaming the category of sex jewellery in pop culture with the introduction of thee Vesper vibrator necklace in 2014. Ti has won international design awards and has led CRAVE to mainstream partnerships with the likes of Nordstrom, MoMA Design Store, Standard Hotel, Goop and Saint Laurent.

In 2021, Ti co-founded Design Allyship to provide anyone with actionable resources to improve the condition of historically marginalised designers in the industrial and product design industry. She serves on the Women in Design Committee Advisory Council of Industrial Designers Society of America and Crave Foundation for Women.

DEZEEN: Crave Vesper Touch & Tease Ring by Ti Chang →

The Crave Vesper Touch and Tease Rings are finger vibrators designed for both public and private experiences.
In private the rings are external clitoral finger vibes for use on the tip of one's finger for solo or partner play. While in public, the rings make a bold personal statement on self-love and pleasure, while creating social conversations wherever they go. Vesper Touch and Tease rings are equal parts compelling statement pieces and discreet vibrators that elevate the experience of pleasure.

This project has been longlisted in the wearable design category of Dezeen Awards 2021.

Designer: Ti Chang
Project: Crave Vesper Touch and Tease Rings

ASK: What Is the Sex-Positive Movement and How Are Pleasure Products Contributing to It? →

When it comes to sex toys, the days of the bright pink, phallic, vibrating object as the dominant choice in the market are over. Fortunately, the days of going to a seedy-looking sex shop to buy one of those adult toys and feeling guilty about it are also pretty much done.

"It’s important to have thoughtful well-designed products that are designed for women. The vast majority of what we’ve seen was designed by men at women [...]. They just didn’t really fully embrace the user of these products," says Ti Chang over a Zoom video chat. Chang is co-founder and VP of Design at the sex tech company Crave, which was founded in 2010 after the industrial designer Chang had already launched a line of sex jewelry called INCOQNITO in 2008.

Crave products are sold through the company’s website but also at mainstream retailers like Nordstrom, where they’re available in-store and online.

NY MAG THE STRATEGIST: We Tested 25 Fancy Vibrators to Find the Best →

It’s been three years since we first wrote about the new class of high-design vibrators, the ones that look less like penises (or rabbits) and more like objets d’art. Since then, we have seen a steady influx of sculptural vibrators that can be purchased everywhere from Anthropologie to Walmart and left out on a nightstand without catching a second glance. These vibrators could not appear more different from what’s been available in the past, which Lisa Finn, brand manager at Babeland, calls “a lot of large, pink, sparkly phallic machines.” Instead, they are designed to ergonomically fit a wide array of bodies, delivering powerful orgasms while passing for a prop from a tasteful Instagram photo shoot or a knickknack found on the bookshelf in someone’s Zoom background. Companies such as Maude, Tenga, Dame, and Crave now sell sex toys the same way any other wellness or lifestyle product is sold. The cool, placid branding makes a deliberate point: Carnal pleasure doesn’t need to be raunchy, gendered, or silly. It can just be nice (not to mention nice-looking).

We asked Finn and Dr. Manuela Maria Vazquez, board-certified OB/GYN and founder of LaMaria, for advice on picking the best high-design vibes. Check the materials, they say. Medical-grade or body-safe silicone is nonporous and therefore more hygienic — and it feels more sensual against your skin. In addition, Vazquez tells us that with her own patients, she suggests reading the reviews and asking friends what toys they like, if you’re comfortable with that. As best as you can, have a sense of whether your anatomy responds to external or internal stimulation and whether you prefer strong, rumbling vibrations or more tingly, buzzing sensations, as this is what will most determine how much pleasure you get out of whatever you buy. And pay attention to how a device charges — people have surprisingly strong opinions about USB cords versus magnetic ports.

To find the best new high-design vibrators — the ones that work so well you’d recommend them to a friend — we asked 14 women (who preferred to remain anonymous) to test-drive best-selling toys from Womanizer, Maude, Dame, Crave, We-Vibe, Lelo, Tenga, and Je Joue, as well as a few highly anticipated celebrity-endorsed options. Of the 25 they tested, 19 made the cut. To help us compare and contrast vibrators, we asked testers to consider a long list of criteria, including material, mechanics, ease of use, aesthetics, price, packaging, and overall satisfaction. Each tester was given a period of two weeks to fully get to know the toy they were testing. To help distinguish one person’s opinion from the next, we have given each tester a letter from A to N. And because there are new vibrators launching all the time (most notably one from Goop that has been sold out for four weeks straight and Maude’s new Drop vibrator), we will continue to add products to this list as we are able to test them.

Crave VesperFrom $69

If you know Crave, it’s likely because of the Vesper — a long, skinny, bullet-shaped vibrator that can be worn on a chain and comes in silver, gold, and rose gold. The necklace was the idea of Ti Chang, the head industrial designer at Crave whose goal is to change the social stigma of sex toys by elevating their aesthetics. Not only is the golf-pencil-size Vesper incredibly portable, but it also charges conveniently in any USB port.

What we think: The Vesper is equally suited for solo or partner use on the go. Its hiding-in-plain-sight design means you can wear it out in public and use it pretty much anyplace where the spirit hits you. For such a slim vibrator, it has way more power than you’d expect and features four vibration settings: low, medium, high, and pulsing. “Sometimes my partner will pull it out of the bedside table by the chain, and it’s just sexy,” says Tester D, who loves wearing it like a provocative little secret. The Vesper doesn’t just look like fine jewelry; it’s made with stainless steel finished in one of three precious metals, all of which are body-safe and nonporous. Tester M has had the Vesper in rose gold for two years and counts it as her go-to vibrator for long weekend trips. “Because it’s so small, I can fit it easily in my toiletry bag or travel jewelry pouch, and I’m never worried about where to hide it in a hotel room or Airbnb — not to mention in the guest room at my parents’ house. It’s incredibly discreet, but the powerfully buzzy vibrations still work better than most of the bigger, more complicated vibrators I’ve tried,” she says, adding that she likes the way the metal glides easily against her vulva and warms up to her body temperature.

Buy if: You like buzzy vibrations and the idea of discreetly wearing your vibrator out of the house, you want something that’s easy to bring on road trips, or you are looking for a sexy gift for your partner. There’s nothing else out there like it.

KINKLY: Femtech Spotlight: Ti Chang of Crave →

Ti Chang has been in the business of building beautiful vibrators for more than a decade - but she's still making waves.

This article is part of a series around femtech and the people leading the charge in this growing sector. See the femtech series here.

Venture capital funding: Check. Profitability: Check. Distribution in mainstream retailers: Check.

Ti Chang, co-founder and VP of Design at Crave, has checked so many of the boxes startups aim for - and she did it as the head of a company that sells vibrators.

And not just any vibrators. Beautiful vibrators. The company’s best known for the Vesper, a powerful vibrator designed to be worn as jewelry. It’s a bold piece of bling, but it's also a statement. Pleasure, it says, is something that can be worn with pride.

For Chang, focusing on delivering products that center women's needs has been a lifelong pursuit. As an industrial designer, she says she’s only ever worked on products for women since she graduated from college.

“As a female industrial designer, I realized I was so rare in the industry,” Chang said. “Industrial design is a really big label that includes a lot of things … there weren’t a lot of women at the table making those decisions around design, so that’s always been my focus.”

It wasn’t long before that focus turned to sexual health and now that she’s been in the business for more than 12 years, she says she sees the adult industry “starting to mature.”

She has a good perspective on how much it’s changed since launching a line of intimate accessories in 2008 under the brand INCOQNITO.

“I bootstrapped this company and sold that to Crave,” Chang said.