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Who’s got wood? 24/4/09 12:44 pm Page 3
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TOUCHING WOOD
Erotic Trade Only May 2009
can make that for them. I don’t
generally keep stock - when you saw
me at the Expo the stock I had there
had been made purely for the show.
When I know what I’m making for
someone I’m able to select the right
piece of wood for him or her, with
some nice grain running across it - it
really is that bespoke, that tailor-
made. The only exception is I do
supply Coco De Mer, and have done
since 2005. I’ve had a couple of
other interested retailers contact me,
but those enquiries came at just the
wrong time sadly. Certainly I’d love to
work with more retailers in future.”
I posed the usual question and her
response was polished, by practice, I
suspect: “The question of splinters is
one that comes up so often it’s the
first to be answered on my site’s FAQ
page. I always say to people if you
see a beautiful wooden chair or a
French-polished table, you’ll not get a
splinter off them. I’ve never even had
a splinter making dilettos, and I start
with the rough wood. So no, no
chance of splinters!
“The finish is the bit I can’t tell
you about. I spent between nine and
twelve months researching different
finishes to get something I was happy
with, road-tested for durability and
safety, and I came up with something
I know no one else is using. Other
people say what they use, and I’ve
tried them but wasn’t impressed. It
took me a long time to get what I
wanted. It’s a hygienic, sealed layer
so you’re not in direct contact with
the wood.”
Wondering what her green
credentials looked like, Thompson
produced them with a flourish. “From
the very start I sourced my wood from
two suppliers who both guarantee
their wood is ethical and over the
years there have been times when
woods that I use haven’t been Catriona Thompson: “It’s the beauty of the wood which draws my customers to it”
available from them. Because some
wood comes from managed going through rabbits! She wasn’t and that’s why I call my products
conservation areas, where it’s farmed finding durability with rabbits so she dilettos. It has caused confusion from
by taking bits off the tree rather than came to me. Because the woods I use time to time but once people get into
cutting it down, or places where they are so dense they swallow-up the swing of calling them diletto
plant more trees of the same species vibration though, so it’s not a direct rather than dildo... They retail for
than they cut down, places like replacement. The strength and between £110 and £150, which is
Mexico will stop allowing the export hardness -there’s absolutely no give good given the number of hours
of anything which reaches a in them - is why wood has made a which goes into each one.”
potentially dangerous level. Whenever return to popularity.” So, there we have it. While at first
that happens my two ethical suppliers There was one thing I was left glance wooden toys may seem to go
stop supplying that wood. I could questioning... “Diletto is the Italian against the grain, their rapidly
perhaps get it elsewhere but I’ve word for delight and is where the sprouting popularity as objects of
chosen not to do that from the start. word dildo is thought to come from. desire suggests they deserve a closer
“I like working with specific woods That’s why I’m Transports of Delight, look.
so it’s really in my interest not to
allow it to become extinct too!
Cocobolo is my best seller, a
beautiful, beautiful wood. Dark
chocolaty-brown with a darker brown -
almost black - grain, but you get
flashes of orange and yellow through
it too.”
Asked what the appeal of wood
was, Thompson had a clear opinion.
It wasn’t just what wood is, it was
what wood isn’t. “It’s the beauty of
the wood which draws my customers
to it, with every diletto being
individual. But wood does have a lot
in common with glass and metal
products, in terms of user’s
experience. Mainly a lot of people are
getting fed up with buying something
made of rubber or plastic and it
deteriorating quite quickly. I’ve had a
customer tell me she was sick of
Transports Of Delight - everything made-to-order...
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