Creative Mornings: Design activism with Ti Chang

This December, the Canto team went to our first Creative Mornings event in San Francisco. Creative Mornings is a global organization that hosts free monthly talks by leaders in the creative industry in major cities around the world.

December’s theme was “Silence,” and the speaker, Ti Chang, an industrial designer and co-founder of adult toys company Crave, spoke about the silence and taboo around women’s pleasure. Intrigued yet? Keep reading!

The industrial design space is overwhelmingly male, so most products meant for women have been designed by men. This includes sex toys – and this is what Ti and her co-founder Michael Topolovac wanted to change when they started Crave.

Ti describes her work as “design activism,” which means improving user’s lives and sparking conversation through the way she designs products. By thoughtfully designing sex toys for women, Crave is part of a movement to break taboos and stigma around women’s pleasure.

Canto is proud to support Creative Mornings and their mission to celebrate the world’s creative talent. It’s always a pleasure to meet passionate people in the creative community and to support their challenging but essential work they do.

We left with a fresh perspective on society’s relationship to design and major inspiration from Ti about how creatives can change the world through their work. We’re already looking forward to January’s Creative Mornings event and hope to see you there!

Photos by Ben Conde, courtesy of Creative Mornings San Francisco