It
smells like strawberry bubblegum in the lube lab and peach goop oozes in the
central production studio. Doc Johnson’s
North Hollywood sex toy factory is a juicy spectacle of colorful creation, and
the Willy Wonka analogy is not misplaced. There are bronze casts of cocks,
piles of hot pink butt plugs, mammoth purple dildos that waver transparent like
Jello, and clay gray models of famous pornstars’ parts.
Founded in 1976 in Los Angeles, Doc Johnson is family business. Since January 2018, they’ve been supporting The Standard, Downtown LA’s sex-ed series, Pillow Talk, and this month, they invited us for a private tour of their factory. Guided by the children of the pleasure empire, Erica and Chad Braverman, here is some of what we saw and heard.
Founded in 1976 in Los Angeles, Doc Johnson is family business. Since January 2018, they’ve been supporting The Standard, Downtown LA’s sex-ed series, Pillow Talk, and this month, they invited us for a private tour of their factory. Guided by the children of the pleasure empire, Erica and Chad Braverman, here is some of what we saw and heard.
Erica Braverman: “I was 13 when I found out. My parents had told me that my dad owned a toy company, and I was always asking “where are my toys?!” But the toys never came. When I was 13, we had to pick up my dad from the office, and we pulled up to a company that said “Doc Johnson Sex Toys,” and it suddenly clicked and everything made sense. I was pissed at first, but by the time I hit high school and then on to university, Google was pretty much a thing, and everyone knew. All my friends thought it was cool, and I was lucky enough where it was more of a fun thing. I got a lot of requests for birthday gifts.”
Chad Braverman: “Here in our North Hollywood factory, 12,000 pounds of material are poured daily, and about 75,000 products made weekly. It was my dad's vision for the company to keep all manufacturing and jobs in America when he started it in 1976. A lot of people are taking their manufacturing overseas, and it would certainly be a lot cheaper to do so, but it's something we believe strongly in and are committed to.
Chad Braverman: “Our in-house artist Anjani Siddhartha has been at the company for 25 years. She takes inspiration from her imagination and experience as an artist, and from everyday life objects like curtain rods and Coca-Cola bottles to create novel objects of pleasure.”
Erica Braverman: “We really stick primarily to adult performers when it comes to casting body parts. The process will start with the actor or actress lying down nude on a comfy doctor’s style chair, and alginate will be applied to the areas in question. Most performers choose to shave prior to the process, but in the case of Dani Daniels—who is known for her bush—Vaseline is utilized. Once the alginate hardens, it's removed from the body. Then, plaster is brushed onto that alginate cast. The cast is used to create the mold, and the final product stems from there.”
Erica Braverman: “Among Doc Johnson's
bestselling products are the Tryst Multi-Erogenous Silicone Massager and the Fucking Machine Power Banger, which is
from a premium line of fetish products we designed in collaboration with
Kink.com. Beginner anal products are also super popular.”
Anjani Siddhartha [in-house artist]: "Products that were designed many years ago and still selling are the Raging Hard-On line of dildos with extra-thick veins, some of the realistic dongs, and the Mood Exciter stroker."
Anjani Siddhartha [in-house artist]: "Products that were designed many years ago and still selling are the Raging Hard-On line of dildos with extra-thick veins, some of the realistic dongs, and the Mood Exciter stroker."
