Sensuality is essential for creating and enhancing intimacy, with ourselves and our partners. WISP has a mission to empower women with female focused products for a sensual revolution.
Born in 2016 out of the Sex Tech movement, WISP formed an offshoot of “Sensual Tech” designed to encourage exploration, experimentation and expression. Decentering the conversation on sex around orgasm, which is of course important, to focus on the complexities of the sensual experience that permeate our entire sexuality.
Our team is comprised of multidisciplinary researchers, designers, creative technologists, engineers, makers, strategists, and business developers all passionate in bringing sexual & sensual wellbeing to the forefront of the conversation.
Let us take you on our Sensual Tech journey, from High Tech to Fashion Tech.
Early Days
It all began in 2016 with a project at the Royal College of Art & Imperial College. With a vision to change the conversation around intimacy through delightful design and pleasurable tech, we held focus groups and experimented testing different sensations, giving birth to the earliest experimental prototypes of WISP made of silicone pads, electronics and sensors that touch, pulse, whisper and blow air onto the erogenous zones and pressure points.
Feedback from testers affirmed that the product allowed for personal interpretation. They were also aroused by the multi-sensations that didn’t focus solely on the genitals or breasts and enjoyed customising their own sensuality.These futuristically designed wearables were our science fiction fantasy. We imagined the future of sensuality to inspire the Sex Tech industry to think outside of the traditional “sex toy box”, and thus, we formed the foundation of Sensual Tech.
High Tech
The following year, we expanded our advisory board to include psyhcosexual therapists and gynaecologists. After winning the EU Commission grant, Horizon 2020 we also teamed up with hardware and firmware partner, Aeguana and Wearable AI, and the Central Research Laboratory, to elevate our product into the “High Tech” sphere.
We wanted to develop the most innovatively designed, cutting edge technology, so our manufacturing moved to Shenzhen, China, and the second generation of WISP prototypes advanced from silicone to metals. To maintain our vision of encouraging sensuality these wearables encouraged foreplay through in-built biodetectors, heartbeat and movement sensors.
However, from this high tech fantasy, there arose some drawbacks. After further user feedback and winning a Taiwanese entrepreneurial competition, we decided to head in a slightly new direction. While there were multiple design limitations, we also discovered that the bulky tech detracted from the humanness of sensuality that we so wanted to emphasise.
Fashion Tech
2018 saw our manifestation into Fashion Tech, formulating the sensual jewellery collection that you see today. Moving away from High Tech, we knew the next step would be to simplify our designs, remove most of the IOT, and really hone in on the humanness of our mission. We understood that to inspire intimacy, technology can of course be an enhancer, but it is the physical effort that we put in which encourages closeness to ourselves and our partners.
Creating customised sensation was a priority. Using a unisex design with sleek shapes, the jewellery would be worn in multiple ways, on multiple occasions, with multifunctionality. Big enough to hold and innovative enough to stimulate pressure points and erogenous zones. We wanted to tantalise the sense of smell and touch, as well as create something so visually aesthetic, distinctive and breathtaking.
We held focus group workshops for user testing on subtle arousals and collaborated with famous perfumeries in Paris and London to research our unique fragrances, refining the essence of SENS: Statement pieces that change perceptions on intimacy and foreplay and facilitate conversations around the complexity of sensuality.