Sam Roddick - “I call it ethical erotica…”

Sam Roddick the founder of erotic emporium Coco de Mer talks to Hannah Bullock

Eco is super sexy

It represents well-made, healthy products that are designed to last. Like antiques, they’re thrilling because they’re crafted with the idea of longevity. Cheap pound shops and throwaway electronics, on the other hand, reek of disappointment and lack of fulfillment. Sexy is a package; it’s about how you present something. For years people have found fur sexy, but let’s face it, it’s just a dead animal.

Happiness is a well-turned dildo

When I sell our fairly traded wooden dildos, I say to my customers that they’re made with happiness - handcrafted by a wood turner in a local forest. That’s a great start to a dildo. I call it ‘ethical erotica’. After all, our bodies aren’t supposed to be treated like they’re cheap. If I felt pangs of guilt in sex, I certainly wouldn’t want it to be about the materials my dildo was made of.

I don’t want to be an earth goddess

Unfortunately, eco is too often associated with a wholesome, hippy, natural style. You might have thought I’d play on the whole ‘earth goddess’ thing in the shop, for example, but where’s the filth in that? I don’t like the greens’ ‘them and us culture’ either - there’s a lot of judgment in the movement, a lot of finger pointing, and it just ends up alienating people. Quite frankly, I don’t want to be part of the ‘green clan’ - it’s all a bit too earnest for me. I think everybody should take the piss out of themselves.

But I’m not a green virgin

I compost and recycle, I buy organic, I buy green electricity and my car’s a hybrid. I’m going to stop using cleaning products and just use vinegar and bicarbonate of soda instead, because even the greenest cleaners freak me out.

The way we shop controls everything

Twenty years ago, global warming was considered a conspiracy theory and organic was an underground movement. Now look at where we are. You can buy organic in every supermarket. People are finally realising that the way we shop can change our lives.

I’d love to go on a ‘how to be green’ course

I think anyone who starts up a business should be made to go on one, just like you have to learn how to handle alcohol to get a liquor license. They’d soon see that green is always better quality, and often cheaper, too.

21 May 2006

Hannah Bullock