If James Bond were reincarnated as a vibrator, he might come back as Little Gold, the signature product of Jimmyjane, a year-old San Francisco-based purveyor of luxury sex toys. So sleek and stealthy, this customizable 24-karat gold-plated, $325 bullet puts its plebian plastic cousins to shame.

But trouncing the competition isn’t what most excites Jimmyjane’s 34-year-old founder, Ethan Imboden, who earned his stripes designing products for Nike, Herman Miller, and Motorola. If such a thing can be said in this context, Imboden has more modest aims: to fashion artful, personalized objects that people feel good about using, and that also make people feel good.

Imboden stumbled into the world of erotica quite accidentally: While doing research for a client, he attended a sex trade show and realized the untapped potential for high-end bedroom accessories.

“This was the final frontier for design,” Imboden says. “In the past 10 years, design has been applied as cookie cutter to everything under the sun. This was like finding completely uncharted territory.”

So Jimmyjane hit the market with items like Little Steel Vanitas, a stainless steel vibrator that’s etched with skulls and butterflies – a reference, Imboden says, to 16th and 17th century “meditations on the fleeting nature of life and material possessions.” The phrase “the little death,” which Shakespeare used euphemistically to describe an orgasm, was Imboden’s inspiration for the design. “Rather than underestimating customers, we want to engage their intellect,” he says.

The same premise applies to The Wink. To some, it’s simply a sleep mask. But for those digging a bit deeper, the three lush yards of hand-dyed silk attached to the suede mask can lead to all kinds of trouble. “It’s there if you’re looking for it, and not if you’re not interested,” Imboden says. “That level of depth of interaction in design is what we’re reaching for.”

Jimmyjane’s products are sold at upmarket retailers like Fred Segal in Los Angeles and Riley James in San Francisco, both untraditional venues for prurient product lines. “People are looking for a way in and want to know that it’s okay,” Imboden says. “What gives each person approval to go ahead is different. Maybe it’s that the products are carried in their favorite store, or that their favorite celebrity is talking about it. People want to engage, and any way we can give that permission...”

With seven-figured sales, Jimmyjane’s “ways in” seem to be working, rewarding Imboden with a kind of success about which, just a year ago, he could only fantasize.