The Red Dot design award is serious stuff. You just have to look at which products managed to win it in the past: the iPhone 4, the BMW 5 Series Touring, the Bose SoundDock… It is thus remarkable how this year a sex toy gained the podium over 4.500 or so competitors.

The item in question is Lelo’s Tiani, which is in fact a quite original little thing. Since guessing how it works is not particularly easy at first sight, a brief description may be useful: to use it, the wider part of the “curve thingy” is vaginally inserted, getting the smaller tail to rest on the clitoris. The size is small enough to allow normal intercourse while using it. The “round thingy” is instead a really smart remote control, which allows to change the type and frequency of the stimulation by simply tilting it. Feeling the same vibration in the unit removes any guesswork about what the partner is feeling, and gives you a second vibrating toy.

Beside the undoubted efficiency, the award was given also for a series of technological innovations including the materials used, the packaging, the use of rechargeable batteries and so on – but the female jurors looked somehow distracted about these points…