If you’ve ever walked into a sex-toy store or even the intimate aisle of your local boutique, it’s understandable if you felt overwhelmed by your options. (That’s if you’ve ever stepped foot inside, as such stores can feel intimidating and taboo!) What toy is worth the price? What type of stimulation do you want? Which toys will actually last? The questions can be endless.

Luckily, a new wave of toy makers are here to streamline your experience for you. Take Biird for example. Founded by four industry veterans who wanted to prioritize pleasure, the brand focuses on colorful options, high-quality products, and a solid price point.

The Netherlands-based brand makes waterproof and versatile toys, and founders Simon, Andrea, Kevin and Evi pulled from their past work experience to inform palm-sized powerhouses. Best of all, the toys include key design features like charging stations, as well as multiple sensations in one toy — and they’re also durable and body-safe. Beyond the Beez chatted with co-founder Andrea Rey about Biird’s design, sensibilities, and approach to pleasure.

Tell us about Biird — how did the brand get started, and what sets these products apart from other sex toys on the market?

We started Biird over two years ago as we felt there was room for products that were a bit more playful, colorful and most importantly, more relaxed about sexuality. When we looked at what was available, we often saw other products portraying sexuality and self-pleasure as this perfect thing, this darker and mysterious feel with a lot of lace and lingerie. We believe in a broader approach to self-pleasure.

Is it nice to sometimes really put in effort, wear lingerie, play music, and light some candles? Absolutely! But there are times where you just want some alone time to relax and just simply have a quick, fun moment! Biird is there for all these situations.

Sex toys have come a long way since they were invented, and Biird toys have unique designs. What’s your team’s philosophy when it comes to designing products?

Our products are designed to give great pleasure but aesthetics also play a big role in everything we make. We want our products to look good and feel good. We’re also aiming to add a second-use case to most of our products. For example, our Evii vibrator has a jewelry tray that doubles as its charging base, and Namii, our suction product, has a charging base that doubles as a mood light.

This approach pushes us to really think about the product we’re making, about how users will perceive and use it. Our designs have also been awarded multiple times now. We’ve won an iF design award, an A’ Design Award, A Good Design award and a European Design Award.

How does color come into play when the Biird team is designing its products?

Pink and purple have traditionally been the two main colors for most pleasure products for many years. We looked at those colors and did indeed see potential for them and our products, but the shade of pink and the shade of purple we ended up choosing are very pastel. Not many other brands had used our shades, and we thought pastel colors were a great option for our brand. We ended up working with a whole range of pastel colors.

How do you want people to see or experience your brand? Is there a word or feeling that comes to mind?

We’re a bunch of happy people at Biird. So we hope that our happiness and our excitement is perceived by our users. When we make a new product, we always start from the core thought of, ‘What product can we build that we would really love?’ So we really try to put our own experiences and our own likes into our products. We hope our users see that our products have a bit of a soul in them, something quirky, something happy.

Sex toys are becoming more and more mainstream — what do you think is the future of the industry?

Every year we see some progress when it comes to destigmatizing self-pleasure and pleasure products. A few years ago it was unthinkable to see pleasure toys in a supermarket, but we’re starting to see some models being sold there. People are becoming more open — both about talking about pleasure toys and about using them. It’s a great evolution!

What do you wish more people understood about pleasure?

It’s not something to be afraid of or ashamed of. Self-pleasure helps you understand what you like personally — what feels goed and what doesn’t. If you’re partnered, you’ll be able to guide your partner more, telling them about what you like and how you like it. Pleasure is very personal. Some prefer it daily, others weekly or less frequently. It’s all about what feels good to you.

How would you change the way people in our society talk about sex and pleasure?

Talking about sex and pleasure is still a pretty loaded topic. It can be difficult to gauge how your conversation partner will react when bringing the topic up so most oftentimes people ignore or dance around the topic.

Year after year, we’re seeing progress though. A big part of this progress comes from social media accounts and influencers who are becoming more open about sex and pleasure. When we have open conversations about these topics, the stigma surrounding them starts to disappear which helps us to have frank conversations about a topic that shouldn’t feel as intimidating as it feels today.

Just a few years ago, there was a much bigger stigma around sex and pleasure. Every year, we’re moving in the right direction. But there still is room for improvement. We’re so used to seeing scantily-clad women advertising a brand but as soon as we start to talk about sex, sexual health, and pleasure, suddenly a line is crossed and it’s not OK anymore. We see this on social media platforms where very suggestive posts are allowed but posts about sexual health and self-pleasure cross a line, even though they don’t show any explicit material. It’s the same in the advertising world: Advertising something using suggestive images is OK but advertising pleasure products or condoms is not, most of the time.

What about Biird makes you the most excited when you wake up and start working every day?

Product development. Working on new products can feel surreal at times. Seeing how our ideas are turning into prototypes and then into real products… Sometimes I still can’t believe the products we’ve made came out of our minds.

Hearing from our users is also always nice. Hearing their stories about how our products helped them to rekindle a fire in them or find pleasure they didn’t know they had. And working in the pleasure industry can be a lot of fun!

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.