Fridae

æ: Tell us about your unusual choice for an occupation.

puimond: I am a corsetier. I make corsets, a popular fetish garment, for the fetish community worldwide.

æ: How did you get started in corset making?

puimond: When I was finishing fashion college in Toronto Canada, I had to put together a fashion show and decided make three corsets to compliment my collection. After the show, I brought them to my friends' fetish shop "Northbound Leather" in Toronto where they offered to sell my corsets on consignment. Orders started coming, then one thing led to another and now I'm a corset maker.

æ: An Asian gay man making corsets for a living, how did your family react to that?

puimond: My Chinese parents were worried that I wouldn't make any money from making corsets. After the first year of my business, they quickly learned that I do have a profitable product targeted at a niche market. After that, they became very supportive with my business. In fact, they even bought me another sewing machine so that I would keep at it.

æ: Do you own a corset yourself and have you ever worn one in public?

puimond: Actually, after making them for almost eight years, I finally made one for myself last month and modeled it in my recent fashion show at the San Francisco Ball in April. The corset was worn as a men's version which is patterned to fit the anatomy of a male physique without the excess hips and bust areas.

æ: Since a high percentage of your clientele comes from the fetish community, could you tell us more about the fetish scene in Los Angeles?

puimond: There are two fetish scenes in LA, one gay and the other mostly straight yet pan-sexual at the same time. The gay fetish scene is predominantly your typical leather daddy/boy type scene while the straight/pan-sexual scene is a melting pot of all types of fetishes. When you attend these parties, you'll see straight people mingling with gay folks and different people with different fetishes coming together to have a good time. It's very accepting and diverse.

æ: Any interesting experience as an Asian gay man in the L.A. fetish scene?

puimond: No, nothing more or less than what the average Caucasian gay male would experience. Because I've always had a strong presence and unique style since I was younger, being Asian has never been a determining factor for what I experience. Most of the people I meet or become friends with have said to me that they don't see me as an Asian guy, they just see me as Puimond.

æ: What about your first fetish experience?

puimond: I guess it happened when I was very young at around five years old. I used to make regular visits to the doctor to get my weekly allergy shots. While waiting for the doctor to walk in, I'd play with all the neat stuff sitting on the counter like syringes, scalpel blades, and of course latex gloves. I especially loved the smell and texture of the latex.

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æ: Does your favourite fantasy involve latex then?

puimond: My favorite fantasy involves myself being locked up in an air-tight climate controlled latex chamber with another well built hot guy around my age completely dressed in latex from head to toe and going at it for hours. Sexy gas masks would be an additional turn-on.

æ: Good god. It'll be like making love in a gigantic condom. I guess you don't have to worry about cleaning up afterwards.

puimond: Yikes, cleaning up latex clothing can be quite a chore. First you have to wash it, pat it dry completely, and coat it up with a silicone based lubricant and bag it up so it doesn't deteriorate. It's high maintenance but worth all the effort.

æ: You also have a very interesting personal website called cuteanddirty.com. We know you're "cute" but could you tell us why you're "dirty"?

puimond: I can't tell you that! I'm too shy! (Gives Fridae a wink.)

æ: What inspired you to set up your personal website featuring fetish photos of yourself?

puimond: Having a homepage with pictures of myself wearing fetish clothing is part of who I am as a person and as a business. My homepage was inspired by my female pin-up/fetish model friends' sites such as Dita Von Teese, Kumi, and Julie Strain just to name a few. I figured if I work out as hard as I do and have photographs of myself, why not put them on a web site so other people can view them too?

æ: Has your high-profile website changed your life in any way?

puimond: Well, I can now say that I have a life now. (Laughs) But seriously, no, it's only been a few months since my site went up and no, my life hasn't changed. The homepage is just a very small extension as to who I am. It's basically an online photo album and I don't make any profit from it. My main focus is still my corset business, my friends and my hobbies.

æ: What are your future plans?

puimond: I'm working on my next fashion show for the high profile Skin Two Rubber Ball in London this October 6th and also doing some Japanese rope bondage shoots together with Van Darkholme. He will be the photographer while I'm the model.

æ (eagerly): Do you need a personal (un)dresser for the shoot?

What Alvin Tan Heard: Of course! Especially if he's as drop-dead-gorgeous as yourself.

What Sylvia Tan Heard: Oh dear... are you offering yourself? I have to get back to you on this... shameless hussy.

What Puimond Actually Said: Sure! I can always use a pair of hands when undressing! Especially if they're cute and dirty too.