The Talea is a modern take on an older,  much more intimidating concept--a spread bar. The objective with the Talea was to offer a stepping stone into the BDSM community those curious individuals who want to experience something new, but aren’t sure where to start.

Some of the most common feedback we get from first time Liberator customers is that they don't want to use the product "wrong." The Talea was designed to be simple enough for anyone to use, yet complex enough to keep more experienced users interested

The shape of the Talea also encompasses the fundamental shapes of most other Liberator products. Much like the Liberator Wedge, when used under the hips the Talea helps achieve more sensual angles during lovemaking.

Comfort was a main priority when designing the Talea. Traditional spreader bar designs are often aggressive and uncomfortable. We wanted to Talea to be comfortable and welcoming, yet risqué enough to encourage any and all of your bedroom fantasies. 

Trust is one of the most important attributes of a healthy, intimate relationship. The objective of "playful restraint" is to put partners in a vulnerable state that allows them to trust each other, but still remain safe and comfortable.

At the core of the Talea is a PVC pipe, giving it an incredible amount of strength and resilience. High density polyurethane foam encases the PVC to give comfort and support to the structure. A high grade vinyl and ballistic nylon cover surround the Talea, offering a durable, low maintence outer surface.

Four d-rings and four female clips set the stage for creative bedroom fun. The amount of versatility built into the Talea is unmatched by any other Liberator product on the market.

My team gauged the concepts we generated and determined which ones could result in a quickest-to-market product. We decided on the concept of a spreader bar for a few reasons—it is a known accessory in the BDSM community, it has inherent disadvantages from a comfort and usability perspective, and it is a relatively simple product in construction.

Once my team had an initial idea of how we might go about our redesign on a traditional spreader bar, we went straight to refining our strongest concept into a usable prototype. This project is particularly unique because we produced a functional prototype very quickly upon choosing a direction—this was partly due to the simplicity of it’s construction, and ultimately due to our understanding of the materials we were working with and the function of the product itself.

User Testing: Having produced a functional prototype, it was time for user testing. My team tested the design on a number of willing test subjects, but first we tested the product on ourselves.

To our surprise, the initial design we produced for the spreader bar passed our user testing with flying colors. At this point it was time to move on to validating our design with labor studies. We started with the sewn goods—evaluating the CNC cutting, handling, and sewing times of each process to determine our true manufacturing cost.

After the base unit has been validated for labor cost, my team moves on to validating the cost of all accessory components. Since the Talea has a number of usability configurations, we had to be sure we covered all our bases when it comes to valuing each SKU we planned to offer.

After all the manufacturing data has been collected, my team moves on to the packaging specifications. With some experimentation, we are able to fit the Talea into a box that is 30% of it’s original size and can sit on a retail shelf for over twelve months without any significant decrease in product performance.

With all of the design specifications nailed down, we move on to generating the creative assets for the Talea. This product is intended for retail and web sales, so the creative work that we generate needs to be top-notch in order to produce a significant ROI in our intended marketplaces.

Once the creative assets are produced, my team works alongside our creative department to produce a point-of-purchase box for the Talea. This POP box is part of a modular system of box designs and dimensions intended for shelf space optimization in a retail setting.

With every aspect of the development process in complete, it’s time to launch the Talea. This is the first batch of units in the process of being packed on a pallet to be shipped to retail stores across North America.