UNDER THE COVERS: Happy Valley Sex Toys

Mya Destinee

I’ve been lucky enough to be a tester for Happy Valley Sex Toys. The Canadian toy company provided me with toys to try, and Mark Ricketts from Happy Valley climbed under the covers with me to chat about the company, what makes sex great, and which toys sell the best!

MD: Tell us about Happy Valley!

Mark: Happy Valley started almost by accident twelve years ago. While talking to our friends at Leatherbeaten, we realized that there were no high quality silicone toys made in Canada and people were crying out for alternatives to imports, which were often made with questionable materials. Thinking, “How hard could it be?”, we started working on our original designs. Nine months later, after a very steep learning curve, we eventually had the first toys we were happy putting our name. We launched at the Everything To Do About Sex Show and were an instant success. From those humble beginnings we quickly built a reputation for only ever using the best materials possible and coming up with some truly innovative designs. Now Happy Valley can be found everywhere from Japan and Australia, across North America and into Europe. We label all of our handmade toys for our Happy Valley range, whilst our toys with more complex designs are labelled under our Fuze or Fuze Ten ranges. Now more time than ever is spent creating new toys and finding new ways to put smiles on faces.

Working at Happy Valley is great fun and it is very rewarding to know that we have made so many people happy and helped to broaden sexual horizons.=

MD:  What is your best selling toy?

Mark: We put an amazing amount of effort into making our designs appear effortless. It takes at least six months to go from an original concept to launching a new toy. All of this means that we do not have a bad design and virtually all of our toys are equally popular. However, if I had to chose one that would be our best seller at the moment, that would be the Ultra. Ultra is an extremely realistic toy featuring Fuze Ten silicone, so it is marvelously flexible and realistic feeling. As with all our Fuze dildos, Ultra is vibe compatible and has a uniquely ridged harness compatible base.

MD:  What is your role at Happy Valley?

Mark: One of the best things about Happy Valley is that we are still a small business. We have purposely arranged it so that everyone is involved in every side of the business, from coming up with new toys, the day to day running of the workshop, to all of the office work needed to keep Happy Valley running smoothly. This is so important to us because it means that whenever a customer has any questions, it does not matter who they talk to, but it will always be someone who either designed the toy, actually made that specific piece or packed it ready to go. We all know the differences between each design and can advise which would be most suitable.

MD:  Why do you think a healthy sex life is so important?

Mark: Sex is fun! That can be reason enough in itself. Apart from that it is important to always be sex positive. Accepting both yourself and others just as you are is the best way to have a happy life. Our toys can provide some much needed variety and enhance your play regardless of whether you are solo, or with a partner.

MD:  What sets Happy Valley apart from other sex toy manufacturers?

Mark: What really sets Happy Valley apart is our attitude. We have only been so successful through working with such great and talented people and listening to their ideas about how to make their sex lives even better. We do our best to return the favor, by creating the best toys we can.  Happy Valley is sex positive and supportive of the whole community. We only do this job because it is such good fun and brings joy to so many people. Happy Valley also gives us the opportunity to support our environmental stewardship scheme to protect and preserve a sensitive area of natural Canadian ecology.

MD: How does one end up working for a sex toy company?

Mark: We never really planned to start this business, it just came about organically. A strong background in both the arts and physiology may be important, but even more important is listening to people, being open minded and always willing to try new things. There really can’t be many better ways to make a living.

There you have it, folks... right from the source. Now go touch yourselves, please.

XOXO