About the Femmes.

The Femme Den is here to save good women from bad products.

The Femme Den started as an underground collective of international women searching for answers in a world that was not designed for us. We've now grown to a leading team of design researchers, industrial designers, and engineers who are paving the way for a deeper understanding around design and gender.

Armed with our unique toolkit of know-how and fresh design methods, we create products that make a positive impact on people’s lives, particularly women’s. We bring our knowledge to life in the products we design--from the kitchen to the ski slopes to the emergency room.

The women’s market is a huge business opportunity, as women buy or influence up to 80% of consumer goods. Yet, the gender dialog is missing from the design world today, probably because there are so few women in the industry to provide a female point-of-view. We are here to fill that gap. Gender needs to be a part of every design project in the same way we consider ergonomics, function, aesthetics, etc. Understanding gender is a new way forward; it is an untapped design tool that can make a difference in design and business.

Our end game is to bridge the gap between assumptions and realities about women to explore the underdeveloped opportunity for good design. What is good design? Kate Rockwell described it well her recent article on the Femme Den in the Fast Company Masters of Design issue, “Good products balance the needs of men and women to the benefit of both. They’re not male products masquerading as unisex or–-worse–-hiding under a coat of pink paint. They don’t alienate anyone with over claims of being women-focused or women-friendly. They just are.”