For the love of Jimmyjane

Image of Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girl creator) art from Jimmyjane’s sexy-hip line, Ultimate Member Limited.

I can’t even begin to explain what a great time I had having lunch at the local Jimmyjane (also: Twitter) offices — they’re like the coolest, smartest, hippest people I’ve met in a long time, and that they’re making incredibly thoughtful and long-term sustainable lifestyle sex gear is the icing on the cake. Ethan Imboden is exciting and brilliant and funny, and I hope to hang out with him again soon, at least to geek out on human sexuality and industrial design… Wow. Here’s my very fun column in this week’s SF Chronicle about their eco-initiatives, which I’ll admit doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of Jimmyjane’s positive impact on global sex culture, ethical sex toy manufacturing practices and long term thinking in product design and development. Seriously, Imboden should give a Long Now talk. Here’s a nip — click through to read Jimmyjane: the eco-sexy lifestyle for all links, a full gallery, and more:

Kate Moss runs around showing off her own Little Something. SEPHORA Paris has a full Jimmyjane display. Their sex toys regularly star in design magazine layouts like I.D. and win prestigious design awards. Most notoriously, Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics fame) made the song (“Let’s Do It Again”) and NSFW music video to accompany his own signature Jimmyjane vibe called “Rock Fabulous” — the top RF vibe is ringed with black diamonds and retails at $2000. I’d seen more affordable — but still award winning — designer Jimmyjane vibes and sex accessories at places like Good Vibes (goodvibes.com), but with all that glamour dancing in my head, my visit to Jimmyjane for lunch wasn’t what I expected, at all.

It’s a door so discreet, tucked away in Potrero Hill, you’d miss it if you were just walking by. There isn’t even a proper door handle. But that’s part of the hidden luxurious charm nestled in the Jimmyjane warehouse offices, which inside look like an industrial designer’s dream come true. Turns out the whole company is actually an industrial designer’s dream come true.

I wasn’t at Jimmyjane to ogle the beautiful space, but instead there to talk to Ethan Imboden, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Creative Officer about their new eco-initiatives — and to meet the team behind the most luxurious, fashionable and (as I was about to discover) greenest sex toys in the world. Turns out, they were all just as funny, smart and cool as I’d hoped. Another local yet global force to be proud of.

Ethan surprised me by revealing off the bat that he’d formerly worked on the Human Genome Project at Berkeley before diving into the world of high-end design, creating products for big name brands worldwide. Of course I blurted out that he needed to see the new design nerd film from “Helvetica” director Gary Hustwit (“Objectified“), and we were off and running on tangents ranging from Ethan asking me about SFSI.org to me geeking out on mechanical design specs for Jimmyjane’s flagship vibes (…read more, sfgate.com)

* I did link “Rock Fabulous” because I can’t get Dave Stewart’s song (iTunes link) out of my head since my visit to Jimmyjane, and also Gary Hustwit’s Twitter because he’s really nice. Also, my gallery from visiting Jimmyjane’s offices is here.