All illusionist have their obsessions . For Thomas Edison , it was electrical energy . For Elon Musk , place change of location . And for Colin Burn , it ’s a vibrator that be a million dollars .
Burn , a 53 - year - sure-enough jeweler in Perth , Australia , who first made a name for himself by devising a summons for gilding leaves and flush in gold and ash gray , has spent the last dozen old age creating wildly extravagant gender toys for the global 1 % . These arrive encrust with jewels , monogrammed , and custom detailed , made from the world ’s most treasured woods and metals and even human hair . They vagabond from silver nipple clamp for $ 299 , to the " Pearl Mini Vibe " in silver with an actual ivory on top for $ 3,000 , to the Pearl Vibrator in atomic number 78 , which includes a necklace made with off-white and baseball field and matching earrings , and costs $ 36,000 . Priciest of all is Burn ’s Diletto . Made out of 18 - carat white gold and festooned with 400 diamonds . Yours for $ 38,000 .
Burn ’s accomplishments are many , but one thing keep to elude him : the million - dollar vibrator . It ’s now design , prototyped , and quick to go , but it take years of hustle , severe work , and enduring the taunts of champion and colleagues to get there .
Courtesy of Burn Jewellery
Here ’s Burn , in his own Word .
I first found out about vibrators when I was 16.You would be in relationships and use sexual practice toys and such . No big softwood . Back then , though , in the 1970s and other ' fourscore , they were loud item sold in sleazy shops where guys put on deep coats . In those days , I remember , vibrator were know as " matrimonial aids . " They were product you used , not thing you covet .
Solid gold Casanova vibrator|Courtesy of Burn Jewellry
But , years afterward , my compulsion with them turn out of an artistic perspective – not a intimate one . No one had made an disingenuous vibrator before . I wanted to be first . I do n’t want to follow the conventional norm . I do n’t get instigate by doing formal things . I do n’t need to be a lemming . This seemed like one direction to keep from doing that .
My quest to make the million - dollar vibrator really start in 2003 . I was having a conversation with a radical of the great unwashed at a dinner political party , and somebody mentioned a atomic number 79 vibrator that is supposed to be opulent . I express mirth . It ’s plastic , coatedin atomic number 79 . I know all about this item , but had n’t really mean about it until it came up in conversation . There was nothing gilded about that gold - plated vibrator !
But the conversation made me curious . Is there such a thing as a luxurious vibrator ? I knew I had never before see one . unremarkably , they ’re these rubber or charge plate thing with all form of stuff hanging off the sides . So I researched the gender - toy grocery store and chance on something : it ’s filled with awed product . As a jeweler , I can state you , the dildos and vibrator out there in 2003 werenotclassy .
Casanova human hair whip|Courtesy of Burn Jewellry
So I pose down a challenge for myself : machinate atrueluxury product for the great unwashed to apply in the sleeping room . It would be high - conclusion , gamey - note value , made from material Au , with real jewels , for people who treasure fine matter .
When I started , the reaction within Australia ’s mainstream jewelry industry was often negative . It ’s a very materialistic business . Fellow jewelers told me to my look that it is a dread mind . They ’d say , " That is disgusting and offensive . " I would tell them that they have the wrong attitude . I ’d tell them that I think it ’s beautiful . I still question why sexuality would repel them .
But I knew that nothing could stop me . I am the kind of somebody who , if I am told I should n’t do something , then Ireallydo it . ab initio , I did it to show them . by and by , it would become my fine art form .
White gold Diletto|Courtesy of Burn Jewellry
At the origin , there was a peck of experimentation in terms of the first vibrator ’s cast . I knew it needed to be made from a wanted metallic element , but there was a weight issue . The big job with solid silver gray and gold is that they ’re both operose . But I had a solution . Without throw too much off about my proprietary processes , I can tell you that I made a wax swan in the appropriately priapic shape , about 7 in long . Then I underwrite it in pure amber . After melting away the wax , I was left with a vacuous , 9 oz form that looks beautiful .
Then I started think about something that the Japanese do : sneak in pearls under the penis ' skin . It gives women extra joy . I wanted that to be part of this product . I lend pearls to the prick . It looked outstanding and I knew it would improve functionality .
Next , I decide that the vibrator necessitate to look elegant and beautiful , and come off as something that had never been seen before . I got guide to the Italians and jeweler like Bulgari . I added some of that flair and augmented it with curls of gold that you see on gates to awful homes in the Mediterranean . I laid in precious and semi - cherished gems , and polish them down . It looked aggressive , but when you ran your hand along the irradiation , it feel amazingly sleek .
Once I had the consistence – which was light enough to actually vibrate – the motor became a challenge . It needed to be engineered as much as designed . Then I got into a quandary about the shift . On / off switching are worthless – and I did n’t want to take a chance shelling acid leaking out and ruining a beautiful piece of jewelry . So I made an important decision : the vibrator deform on and off by a person taking the shelling in and out . Put the battery in , be intimate the top down , and the vibrator switches on .
By 2004 , I had my first product in hired hand . The Casanova . Its current cost in gold is $ 29,000 . In silver , they go for around $ 3,500 each .
Both my wife , Clare , and my business partner , Nicole , were more than happy to test it out . I was really proud of to see it in action . Like most married men , I had used vibrators with my married woman . But this is not an average vibrator . It elicits an over-the-top reaction . My wife perfectly do it it . She held it in her helping hand and said , " Wow . This is so beautiful . " She had a elephantine smile on her face . That is what excites me : what happens when a woman first sees it , rather than when she first uses it . That is what I was aiming for . I wanted to create a little shock and awe .
Over the course of 2005,I came up with a over cable of vibrators , including a solid - gold , orchis - forge vibrator , which retails for $ 25,000 ( we have sold more than a dozen – it ’s not what I am proudest of , but eggs are sign of prosperity in the Asian cultivation ) , and the Pearl Vibe , which runs $ 16,000 in white gold .
But how do you sell something like that ? You do n’t trade it in a sex shop . It does n’t tally in a jewellery store either . Nobody is going to place it alongside lawn tennis bracelets and engagement doughnut . I ’m enough of a realist to recognize that . So I decided to go the art - gallery itinerary .
I operate with the publishing company of a very upscale life style magazine in Tokyo . They like what we are doing and see note value in it . Word got out and we put on an expo in a district shout out Omotesando . It ’s where all of Tokyo ’s gamy - end retailers have their shop . We invited an upscale group of mass , but we did not require to do a hard sell . Nobody knew precisely what they would be seeing . The idea was that they would be coming to take in jewelry . There were lowly collation of food and glass of Champagne . In the corner of the room , a ma’am play an antique harp .
Then get the shock and awe . By that point , I had around 15 items completed – including a lash made from blonde human hair in 18 - karat solid gold that betray for $ 19,000 . The chemical reaction was fantastic . The Japanese were exhilarate . A few of them even redden . No designer had done sexual practice toy at that degree before . masses need to try them out – but nobody did at the exhibition . It generated more than a million hits on the net .
I sell some of the opus , but I needed to do more . I ask to do the next thing .
Despite what I have reach , some friends see my work and make black jokes . I think they finger more comfy when sex is dirty and cheap . They joked about it being a wastefulness of money to stick diamonds in a dame ’s female genitals . They talked about the diamonds being harsh and rough – when obviously they are not . I told them that they do n’t need to do that . But they did it anyway . Plus , on top of the ribbing , other companies had started making high - end sex toys . All of it was irritating me . I felt that I necessitate to go one better . I require to blow everybody out of the water . I wondered how far I could go with all of this .
At one full point , I look at actually replicating a human penis , usage - making a vibrator that would be establish on an literal customer ’s member . I have not done it yet , but that offer remains on the table . Send us your John Thomas and we will throw away it in silver or amber . Then , when you are away , your wife can still have a piece of you there to play with . We can even expand the size if you want to feel better about yourself .
Still , I knew there was a big idea and I started to wonder : would somebody in reality grease one’s palms a vibrator that cost $ 1 million ? A rumor circulated that David Beckham spent $ 1 million on a vibrator for his married woman . But that was n’t honest . It was a vibrator that number with a million - clam ring . all dissimilar . As that story went around , my attitude became , I will do this .
Then the veridical questions arrived : if I make a million - dollar sign vibrator , who will require it ? What will the appeal be ? What will it look like ? I determine that it needed to beregal . If a queen of a nation had a vibrator , this would have to be the one she would buy .
I spent a month just influence on the design . The piece of music warrant a crown of its very own . I knew I wanted to litter it with ball field and blue sapphires . Everything about it had to scream royal house . It needed to be imperial , yet still function like a vibrator . I design it to resemble a sceptre .
Below the crown , the vibrator itself had to be made out of platinum – the most expensive metal on the planet that you’re able to still cast . The diamonds would be deep set and polished down . They would n’t protrude . I project the body to be textured and smooth , aesthetically pleasing , and exceedingly running . Then I came up with a special feature of speech : you unscrew the treetop and there is a pearl inside it . At the bottom of the pearl is a key that can be worn as a necklace . When the vibrator is in economic consumption , the cardinal controls the fastness .
The reaction to this piece was fantastic . After six month of workplace , I showed a prototype in Macau and multitude went brainsick for it . We demonstrate it inside the Venetian and the most uncouth response from a number of fair sex was very simple : " I want one ! " There is a gyration in China . Luxury is the red-hot thing there , and gender is booming . It ’s the variety of place where the million - dollar mark vibrator can be sell . And once I have a client for it , I will take it out of the concept stage , usage - make the tangible thing , and it will be spectacular .
At one power point , I was almost full - sentence on this , traveling and show and showing the products . After the financial crisis in 2008 , I moved away from this project . Now I ’m back into top paraphernalia . I ’m up all night thinking about that stuff . I have new ideas , and I ’m looking for investors and customer because I eff that a market exists for luxuriant sex toys , especially when the economy is twit in high spirits .
So far the most expensive product we sell went for $ 38,000 . It is the Diletto . A Nipponese businessman made the leverage and he loves the product . It was revolutionize by a man-of-war , the Irukandji , from my hometown in Australia . It is the smallest and deadliest jellyfish in the reality . You get sting and you have 15 hour left to live . This is a nasty business we are talking about .
The opus is 7 in farseeing , about the size of the actual jellyfish . The torso is made from 18 - karat white gold . At the tip is a raised impression of the Irukandji . sustain toward the handle , you have a taking into custody of 400 white diamonds . And the grip itself – here ’s the variety of crazy thought process that goes into something like this – is made from conkerberry wood , which the ancient native people believe had healing powers . So at one end is this very poisonous wight , in the eye are diamonds , and at the bottom you have the therapeutic . A gentleman view the Diletto and enjoin that he had to have it . Now he does .
get back to my whip made from human hair – you could pronto buy human hair , by the way ; we did not need to hack it off of somebody ’s caput – I ’d like to tell you that it come from an elite Italian model , but that is not the case . The thinking behind this derive from the fact that there are world - class whip - makers in Japan . They make some of the finest whips in the world . to compete with them , I had to expand the thinking . I deal the fact that there is a fascination with blond woman in Asian culture and this idea came to me .
It wait great – with a beautiful wooden hold , our whip pairs quite nicely with the Casanova – and is very operable . My lash create a nasty sting , specially when you wet the haircloth a little mo . I know . I experienced it myself . An occupational chance in my line of workplace is that you may not be able to sit down the next day . But that ’s a salutary day , then , is n’t it ?
