Central St Martin’s alumnus Shiri Zinn is renowned for her high-end sex toys, using her natural artistic aptitude and practical design skills to develop products of great beauty which are surprisingly functional. Her red leather strap-on harness and red ceramic dildo are a case in point: enticing to the eye and irresistible to the touch they command attention with their luxe look and feel.
Take the harness: as soon as it’s removed from its packaging the smell of high-quality leather hits you like some sort of pheromonal aphrodisiac, whilst its buttery nappa softness demands to be stroked and caressed. If I’m sounding overly poetic, it’s because for many people smell and touch are just as important an aspect of sexual allure as the remaining senses, so just getting this harness out in the first place could be construed as some kind of sensual foreplay!
If you’re more of a visual person happily there’s much to feast your eyes on here too, as the glamorous red and gold patterned satin triangle at the back of the harness is decorated with a cornucopia of glass beads, clustered in a shape to make the rear of this high-end item just as beautiful as its impressive frontage.
The dildo itself is similarly stunning: in a gorgeous deep red colour, it’s made of glazed ceramic (which lends itself very well to heat play), silken to the touch and decorated in gold leaf. Yes, really: nine carat gold. Because of its manufacturing material, in a funny way this dildo actually feels more forgiving than many of the softer silicone strap-ons we’ve tried: naturally smooth and shiny, the ceramic warms to the recipient’s body heat so speedily that with a simple application of lube you’re up and away.
The dildo is also perfectly streamline, shaped to suit both vaginal and anal insertion it has a flared base and a beautifully tapered tip, which bends upwards slightly to hit either G-spot or prostate depending on usage. Of course you do need to avoid dropping the dildo onto a tiled surface, but if you’re careful it’s certainly robust enough to be able to be both hard-wearing and very long-lasting.
This harness is easily the best we’ve tried, since it’s luxuriously soft but tough with it, fits every other brand of dildo we own (see? Told you Shiri had the practical side covered!), and is also the most beautiful – yet comfortable – we’ve come across. You could easily wear the harness out to a fetish club or private party, or even detach the dildo-securing O-ring area altogether, and with a bit of inventiveness tie the remaining silken beaded area at the front or side to wear as an ornamental belt. Indeed, this method could also be employed to add an O-ring of another size if you have a favourite dildo measures differently from the two inches diameter Shiri’s O offers.
In addition to the red series Cliterati tested, there’s also a pink version of the harness and dildo, and a leather-fringed set in baby blue. The range may seem to err on the costly side, but because this exquisite harness can be used with most dildos on the market, and Shiri’s elegantly shaped ceramic item is suited for lady play as well as F-M pegging, it’s an endlessly versatile combination.
These are also products of truly exceptional quality, genuinely worthy of exceptional expense. Besides: what price art? Breathtaking (literally).
Luxury red harness available from Shiri Zinn for £97 (incl shipping)
Luxury red dildo with nine carat gold design available from Shiri Zinn for £49
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