Both Model and Maker of Kinky Design

By: Abby DivDate: Jan. 25, 2021

In Le Sex Lab's podcast we are talking about premium BDSM and fetish wear, product branding, and the intricacies of modeling for it. In the lab to talk about how they taking theirs out of the dungeon and into the light is Co-Founder of LVX Supply and Co., Rachel Volentine.

Abigail Div
Hello, everyone, we're going to be talking today about premium BDSM and fetish wear and the intricacies of modeling for it. I'm your host, Abigail Div, Founder of Le Sex Lab, and creator of this very podcast highlighting media creators and innovators. In today's interview, we'll explore the following. How does Lv supply start? How is the sale of its product photography different from other brands? Planning fetish and BDSM product shoots? What are the considerations and conundrums? And lastly, what are the new role play collections of LVX? With me today to talk about all her work in creating designing and modeling for LVX Supply is Founder Rachel Volentine. Welcome, Rachel.

Rachel Volentine
Hey, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Abigail Div
Oh, well, welcome to Le Sex Lab's podcast, you're a creator, who wears many hats at once. Your tools, toys and accessory company sells to date over 165 items in over 15 categories of specialty lifestyle items. Let's talk a little bit about your background, before we go looking into this very extensive collection. You're a designer by trade, a model by chance and a full time artists, of course, what drew you to BDSM and fetish design.

Rachel Volentine
So to be honest, mostly, it was by chance, partially had to do with personal interest and proclivities for, you know, BDSM, and kink. But as the brand develops, you know, very early on, we discovered that there was a pretty significant gap in the market for luxury handmade fetish items. And after doing a ton of looking, you know, we really couldn't find anything that filled that need. And both myself and my partner, Michael, the other co founder of LVX, have a very strong creative drive. So we really wanted to, you know, kind of explore where that could take us, not just in the BDSM and kink sense, but in a creative sense, and see what sort of things we could make and where we could go with that. Well, how did it all get started? What were your first items. So, Funny enough, the very first LVX items had nothing to do with BDSM. They were a cult earrings, Michael had got a laser engraver. And so in the beginning, we really testing out the capabilities of that machine. And so after the earrings, the laser engraved earrings, then it sort of developed into more interesting paddle designs, you know, we didn't see and there are a few more now. But there weren't any particularly unique paddle designs available online, either. So we branched into that, again, with the laser engraver, and experimenting with different patterns and markings that could be left with these engravings. And then after getting a couple of those underway, we decided to expand into the leather, and just kind of see what we could do with that and see how we could, you know, elevate that as well. When you go into, you know, kind of a standard sex shop these days, the leather selection is not particularly awesome. That high end market again, was really lacking. So that was the goal was to kind of see what we could do with that. And then once the paddles and the leather really took off. That's when we really realized that like, hey, this could be something more expansive. And we really wanted to branch out from there and see what else we could do.

Abigail Div
Yeah, having a laser engraver sounds like all sorts of fun.

Rachel Volentine
There's a lot we joke about the house being a sweatshop because the amount of machinery and interesting equipment around here is pretty, pretty extensive.

Abigail Div
Well, with so many avenues and lines to expand on how did it develop from the earrings to the paddles to the leather? Was a based on customer response?

Rachel Volentine
Yeah, so in the very beginning, it definitely was even the very first paddles were made for as customer requests. And that was initially kind of what got the ball rolling for the BDSM side of things. And it's been interesting and a cool process because a lot of customer requests do not only kind of drive our development of new products, but it also kind of helps us narrow down what we do and do not want to create. So we've done quite a number of custom requests that we may not sell as well, but it does help us kind of expand on.What we think we might want to do, a great example of that is our padded collar. It's pretty easy to find various choke collars online, but we couldn't find any that were padded. And a customer asked if we could do it. So we figured out a way to do it. And now it's definitely one of our more popular items. So in the early days, that was definitely a really nice, sort of like underlying force to get the ball rolling on certain things. These days, we have a very expansive list of items that we're working on and trying to develop a couple times a year, we sit down and kind of take a look and reevaluate. And today, a lot of it also is based on our own creative interpretation of various BDSM items, and, you know, pushing ourselves creatively as well.

Abigail Div
Yeah, so it sounds like a lot of it came from originally customer's functional needs of trying to better the product and the functionality of the product. Speaking of which, fashion versus function, I see in some of your pictures that your products are made to "stand up to even the most adventurous levels of play". What does that mean?

Abigail Div
Yeah, so all of our pieces are functional. First and foremost, you know, that's definitely, if it looks pretty, but you can't even tug on it without it falling apart, it doesn't really do much. And it also doesn't meet that high end standard that we try to set for, for our items. So that was really the challenge is how to make those high end, beautiful pieces also operate the same way and stand up to that rough play for, you know, depending on what it's made for, you know, certainly something like a day color, the intended function of that is not especially rough play. But something like our behind the back harness is intended for that. But in maintaining the same quality standards that we set for ourselves and also for our materials. It's really the way that we've found to merge those two things, the design aspect of it can be a challenge sometimes because you know, you want it to look aesthetically pleasing, but also not fail when it comes time to use it. So it is it can be a challenge. But that's definitely an enjoyable part of the challenge. And thus far, the use of those higher end materials and maintaining a construction standard has really allowed us to meet that balance.

Abigail Div
Yeah, certainly I have seen it'd be fashion where you know, where you could go out to a party with the piece if it was a piece of like a harness where in certain brands, make them for fashion purposes, like they're part of your apparel, versus functional where where you would go to say, Have sex toy shop, and you would buy something that's made to stand the test of time, and also a fair amount of use cases. And meeting somewhere in the middle of those two things is, is definitely a challenge from both an aesthetic point of view of how do you make this thing look aesthetically appealing to someone, but also that doesn't just fall apart or break, crack or disintegrate with a few uses you want, you know, especially based on the price point that your products are based on to also have multipurpose use.

Rachel Volentine
Yep, exactly. And that's the thing, you know, we, we are aware that we charge a premium price, and we want to create a premium product that meets that and so that when people receive it, they feel that value, and they appreciate the value that's in it, and feel good about the money that was spent. And that's absolutely important to us as well.

Abigail Div
And certainly, you've taken it into your own hands to make everything in house, including your product photography, and your modeling and your marketing, all of which have been are being done by yourself and your co-partner. It's no small task, because not only do you have a rather robust catalog of products, but the nature of the products are particularly nuanced to shoot specifically for posting on platforms with more sensitive social guidelines. So why did you choose to shoot your own products?

Rachel Volentine
So mostly, it's out of necessity, you know, it's really just the two of us doing, you know, everything involved for running the business. And both of us have fine and visual arts backgrounds. Michael also has done a lot of photography. So, you know, part of it was necessity. But part of it was also the ability to have a bit more creative control over the outcome of the photos. You know, we can experiment a bit more and also, then we have the ability to adapt a bit more quickly and risk spawned based on conversion results. We've definitely experimented with different photography styles, and found out that depending on the platform, some of them just don't convert. So the ability to kind of take that into our own hands and have control over that has definitely been not only helpful, but encouraging, have a more sort of flexible mindset. When it comes to how we approach those things, and trying to adapt and change as needed based on the customer response.

Abigail Div
Definitely, and you've definitely put your stamp on the BDSM fashion wear line is you've taken the dungeon, if you will, that's black and dark and red and velvet line, and you've literally brought it into the light. Not only would imagine, for practical reasons to showcase the details of the fine craftsmanship of your work, but also to give light to the nature of the products, which are luxury in nature, but I won't put words into your mouth, how would you describe your aesthetic?

Abigail Div
Yeah, so it's interesting to just try to describe, ultimately, when we were thinking about, you know, what we want our aesthetic to be, how we want our products to look, and really what we want our brand to be, because that's, you know, kind of in the, the intention of the mindset for how we develop the company is building a brand, a luxury BDSM brand. And when we were thinking about that, we realized that what we really wanted to do was take elements of luxury fashion, and even, you know, more commercial, commercially recognizable luxury fashion, and bring them to the BDSM and kink scene. So, you know making things that are modern, timeless, elegant, but also made to last, we really tried to make pieces that people covet and blend both traditional and modern materials and techniques. For our impact pieces, we use a lot of exotic woods. So we really try to play with materials and materials that aren't quite as readily available necessarily in the BDSM market. We also strictly use full grain leather for all of our leather products don't touch genuine leather. And it's an interesting topic to get into. The genuine leather is not actually it's the lowest quality leather available on the market, which is pretty interesting. It's the it's the split of the cow high that's closest into the flesh. So the collagen fibers are much more loose, and they tend to disintegrate over time, as opposed to full grain leather, which is on the outermost portion of the animal. So this like decision making behind what materials we want to go for, really choosing the best quality materials we can get our hands on, to contribute to evolving what this BDSM aesthetic is, and what that can mean. We've found that, you know that that sort of dark, almost kind of gloomy dungeon feel, you know, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. But it can be off putting to some people and if not off putting it can be intimidating, and it can hinder people's ability to really feel comfortable exploring and expressing their kinks. So, you know, it's this balance of creating this high end luxury, while also making people feel like that can be them. And they don't have to feel that sort of dark cloud that can kind of hang over people when they discuss exploring their kinks. We've found that that sort of like lighter product photography, you know, having a website that's not just a stark black background, can make people feel more comfortable. And when you feel like you're shopping for a luxury watch, as opposed to shopping for something dark and kinky and adult and explicit. People really allow themselves to explore a bit more. And that's what we want. We want people to be able to let go of the taboo nature that surrounds BDSM and kink. And like you said, really bring that into the light for people. Yeah, it's almost to elevate, literally elevate it outside of outside of the dark and bring it to light and bring it into the mainstream, you know, in everyday life, if you will. Exactly for sure. Yeah. And so that people can feel like, you know, they don't have to feel weird about buying a color or they don't have to feel this, you know, this pressure of doing something explicit when they want to buy a set of cuffs and that they can feel as comfortable there as they would in any other clothing store?

Abigail Div
Yeah, this definitely sounds like a noble cause to, to take on. Well, great, let's talk about the modeling for the pieces. They're beautifully designed, of course, but they can be very tricky to shoot as you have items in your catalog from very sheer lingerie, to spreader bars, cuffs, stocks, different forms of impact play. Did you do any modeling before starting to model for your brand?

Abigail Div
No, not really, you know, I did. Having gone to art school, I did a few favors for friends in college and, you know, modeled for their fashion projects or photography projects. That's a very long time at this point. And for a while, I had a personal Instagram and did some experimenting with modeling there and self portrait photography. But outside of those two aspects, I did not do any modeling beforehand. So it's been a fun, sort of adventure, kind of learning how to do that. And learning how to approach modeling in a more professional setting. But, you know, it's like a number of things with our brands, you know, me doing the modeling was also a bit out of necessity. But I'm generally comfortable in front of a camera, I don't feel weird about the subject matter, given that my photos are gonna be on the internet for everybody to see. So it was a pretty, pretty easy adjustment for me to make in terms of it being you know, another part of the job. But the physical challenge of modeling is definitely a surprise. And it's been a fun, another fun aspect. to learn and to work through, definitely requires on hand experience, or rather real real life experience to get the skill set behind.

Abigail Div
I think a lot of people don't realize that modeling is a skill, and that it does require practice, of course to hone that skill in. And it's not an easy one to do, especially when you're talking about subject matter. That can be particularly taboo, for a lot of people who are not comfortable with it in their everyday lives. So then going and modeling and showing your body off to the world extensively to produce the product that you want, which is absolutely. Kudos to you for being so open minded to doing it. As I told anybody, it takes a lot to put yourself out there and even more so in spaces that are less understood.

Rachel Volentine
Yes, absolutely. Well, and the other thing was that, you know, we and in my experience with friends who model, you know, I feel models are often underpaid and undervalued for the work that they do. So we also didn't want to, you know, just grab someone and not be able to pay them appropriately for their time, or compensate them appropriately. And especially in the beginning, you know, we didn't have that ability. So we didn't want to just, you know, take advantage of someone who was willing to do it without being able to fairly compensate them for it as well.

Abigail Div
That makes a lot of sense in terms of bootstrapping the enterprise, you know, you have to make things work and a lot of the resources end up coming from yourself.

Rachel Volentine
Yep, absolutely.

Abigail Div
So speaking of photography, again, do you have a standard setup or formula for shooting your products?

Rachel Volentine
We do, and it depends on the product. For impact items, our standard setup is usually a pretty light background, light surface that's got some subtle reflection to it. So it can really highlight the materials. And very good like thorough lighting to show it off as best as possible. The wearable items are a little bit different. And we've kind of been in the past just a year or two really experimenting with how we show those off. We also maintain a very well lit atmosphere with lots of really good lighting to show the product. And we do our best to show it as in use as possible or as in us as we can for the platform that we're on. So, you know, aside from the standard, front back side, you know, we really try to express the creativity of the use of the piece as well as much as we can for where the photo well

Abigail Div
Sure you're balancing what platform you're putting it on of course if there's social guidelines that you have to adhere to mix with of course the the need to be able to show the function of the piece and how it actually works, which is a tricky balance between the two things, especially the, if you're showing the naughty bits, if you will, of your wares. And you can't do that on conventional platforms.

Rachel Volentine
Yep, exactly. So there's a lot of kind of experimentation that's required, and a lot of adjusting, you know, we have currently we're on Etsy, and we have our own website, you know, these guidelines are very clear and very specific, in terms of what you can and can't show on there. You know, none of our product photography is especially explicit in terms of the content, you know, none of it would be considered pornographic. But when it comes to those things, like spreader bars, being able to show what they're for, and how you can use them on a platform like Etsy, where, you know, they really limit your ability to do that. And her ability to show certain things. So finding that balance is definitely a tricky, tricky aspect to it. Yeah, showing enough that it shows the purpose of the pieces mixed with also making sure you don't get kicked up on the platform is right, like, it's a very delicate balance to play. It is it is. And so he's been great. We've had a couple instances where, you know, it's, you know, kind of learning as you go and what they, what they do and don't accept, but they've been responsive in terms of like our questions. So just navigating, that has been an adventure, for sure.

Abigail Div
Yeah, and definitely the product photography looks like it's gone through its own set of adventures, it definitely has a character all of its own, like, for instance, here BDSM head harness, where specifically I'm thinking of the images where your face is in the harness, and you have your tongue out and your your eyes wide open, and it's just full of its own nuance to it.

Rachel Volentine
Yep, exactly. So it's, there's a lot of, you know, we try to put, we tried to put that character of use into the photos, you know, kind of has that expression, some of the stocks that are pretty tight around my neck, like exploring that expression as well. So people can really get a feel of what it's used for. And some of the pieces are difficult to display that way, you know, that harness is meant explicitly for blow jobs. It's a blow job head heart. And, you know, it's how do you show people that without actually showing people and things like our straight jacket dress, because when people are scrolling and they only have one image to really take in your product? How do you go about showing that appropriately and expressing what that does? And even when it comes down to our more simple items, because we use those higher quality materials, because they have those unique aspects to them. It's a lot to try to convey particularly one photo just to get that one click. So they want to look at the rest of the photos.

Abigail Div
Sure, sure. Yeah, it's kind of clickbait in a way

Rachel Volentine
Yep yep, you do you have to figure out how, how to be that clickbait for someone so that they want it just in that split second of looking at that photo.

Abigail Div
Right. And and you're as you were saying, matching, shooting for fashion and function.

Rachel Volentine
Yeah, exactly. It's, it's a lot of balance, for sure.

Abigail Div
Well, what's been the most challenging piece to shoot for you? And challenges could be anything from keeping it PG and social media friendly, to displaying the qualities of a piece and their functional use or conveying their actual use in the image?

Rachel Volentine
Yeah, I mean, the wearables are definitely the most challenging, both because, you know, we have to meet certain guidelines, Etsy is a very popular platform for us. And we're very grateful to be able to sell on there. But it does pose a problem when you know, I have to hold a spreader bar instead of being clipped into it for the first image. So those sort of creative workarounds to try and help people see what it's for, without violating any of those rules, so we can continue to sell there. And you know, our website is a bit different, we don't have that. We don't have those limitations. So we do present the pieces slightly differently there, but not by a ton, because we really want to maintain that same aesthetic, we want someone to be able to see a photo of our products and no, it's an LDS item. But we also have found that, you know, sometimes, you know, people find it hard to come up with ways to use the item as well. So different ways to clip the harness pieces together different ways to use the spreader bar, and even different ways to use things like the paddles like turning it on its side, not a lot of people think of that provides a much more study experience. So some of our paddles have detailing on the side as well and carving on the sides so that you can get different kinds of uses out of it. So helping people explore and recognize their own creativity, when it comes to the pieces through our photography has also been a challenge as well so that people can, once they get it, they can experience it to its full purpose and its full potential.

Abigail Div
Yeah this does definitely seem to mark a challenge in terms of evoking what the purpose of the product is, and also giving people from what it sounds like the inspiration of how to use it.

Rachel Volentine
Yes, exactly.

Abigail Div
Well, great. Lastly, you're working on a few new lines, and expanding a few existing ones. For instance, you have a few pony play items. And there's, as I see it coming soon on your DDLG and pet play collections, these fall into a greater or lesser degree into the roleplay genres, what made you go down the road of roleplay gear.

Rachel Volentine
So a couple different things. You know, the technical challenge of making the pieces it's always exciting, kind of like with most of our items, we noticed that there was a pretty big gap in the market for like, seriously luxury pony play gear, and luxury, and high end DDLG wear. So the real passion behind it comes from the ability to fill a need, and fill a void in the market, and also test our own, you know, sort of creative talents, and maker abilities to put these things together. So it's definitely, you know, an adventure into what people want learning what people don't want, you know, not everything is a hit, but trying to kind of see what we can do to bring something new that someone hasn't seen before, and create things that people didn't even know that they wanted. And with the sort of lack of options in those genres. We really want to jump in with both feet and see what we can do to expand on that. Wonderful. I do see, as I mentioned, the pony play has a few products in your line, how are you expanding it. So we have a pretty good list. And pony play gears pretty far towards the top of it for our upcoming 2021 product development. So we'll be having some full body harnesses. I'm really excited to make molded leather pony masks and really elevate those and do something creative with that. We've got some full bridles underway, as well as some saddles. And we're hoping to also start making some host cuffs and put shoes down the road as well.

Abigail Div
Ooh, that sounds fun.

Rachel Volentine
Yep, the full getup.

Abigail Div
What about DDLG and pet play? Were what's on your workbench for those?

Rachel Volentine
Yeah, so the more realistic molded leather masks for the pet play is at the top of the list. There's definitely a market for leather pet play masks, they're pretty common. But I've been working on developing a way to mold them so that they have a bit more dimension and realism to them. For the DDLG line, we got some onesies going. We have a really cute onesy underway that we need to photograph and get up. As well as things like bloomers and dresses. And we're also looking at getting into some furniture as well. So things like adult sized high chairs, and desks. Were kind of trying to figure out where we can start expanding on that aspect of it as well. And not just wearable items.

Abigail Div
Yeah, it sounds like a combination of your fashion wear, if you will of having the lingerie and then also some of your expertise in wood crafting as well having done the paddles and that these two combinations of skill sets are coming into now a new genre for you.

Rachel Volentine
Yep, exactly.

Abigail Div
And as I harped on before you're both fashion and function, how are you making these new collections cross functional?

Rachel Volentine
Yeah, so the thing that we always keep in mind is this bar that we've set for ourselves. And set for our products. And when I truly believe that when that standard is held to, when it comes to the materials, the design and the construction techniques, the blending of fashion and function or aesthetics and function comes together pretty seamlessly. Because once you sacrifice any of those aspects, it loses, it loses that blend. And so, you know, really, the refusal to sacrifice in a lot of ways has been really key to are maintaining that, that balance between fashion and function.

Abigail Div
Right. Sounds wonderful. And thank you, Rachel, for joining me today to talk about LVX Supply, modeling for it and also your new collections.

Rachel Volentine
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Abigail Div
Oh, well. If you like what you hear, please join me again next time for another feature on Le Sex Lab.