Located in London's Covent Garden, Coco de Mer brings an environmentally
friendly ethos to the sex industry. The sensually designed emporium sources
from local artists, fair trade projects and cottage industries.

LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) REUTERS -

We're all familiar with fair trade when it comes to our food
shopping. Sam Roddick has taken that philosophy into the sex toy industry.

Her shop Coco de Mer in London's Covent Garden is named after the
natural world's largest, and possibly most evocative seed.
But there's a deft hand behind the shop's sensual interior that
challenges even the frostiest of us not to be drawn in. ''The sex industry is
completely unethical and it really is responsible for a lot of people
emotionally detaching and utilising it as a place of avoidance, emotional
avoidance.'' says Sam Roddick, founder of Coco de Mer.
There's no room for avoidance here. While her mother, Body Shop
founder, Anita Roddick, advocated caring capitalism, this Roddick champions
ethics in the sex industry.
Handcrafted pleasure objects, made by local artisans from high quality
materials, stand tall.
Standards in production are one of Roddick's prime concerns. ''There
are no kind of regulations really about the materials that people are
inserting into their most fragile part of their body and this is a huge worry
because it's up to people like me who supply these products to our customers
to have an ethic beyond their profit.'' she said.
'Mistress of Management' Sarah Louise Bennett says that care and
concern attracts a diverse and curious clientele.
''I had a lovely lady of about 85 come in the other day asking for her
first vibrator which we think is quite a good thing.''
Another good thing, in Roddick's view, would be for us all to turn down
our electronic noise and savour our sex lives more.
In doing so you'll have the warm glow that you're intimate 'local'
action is helping planet earth.