Editor’s note: KNKY Rabbit Club is a sensual members-only Los Angeles-based club created by power couple Alina Ratuska and Eyal Brikman. To commemorate its latest collaborative event with Playboy on Sept. 28, Retro Rabbits, we sat down with them to talk about how they brought the KNKY vision to life.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Playboy: When did the idea of the club begin, and how did that turn into a reality?
Alina: I was always in the nightlife from since I was 16. And I came to America when I was 22. I was doing events in LA, in Hollywood and around the area. And I was interested in the more provocative side of events. So I was always pushing the edge, and building in more kinky vibes, something more like what I know from Germany.
And then, I started as a creative director for Sanctum. Back in the day, [it was] one of the most exclusive sex clubs in LA. So I was a creative director for five years, and it was fun. I got a lot of inspiration. It was great, but it wasn’t what I really wanted to do. I wanted to do my own thing and [execute] my own vision. So that’s how KNKY Rabbit became alive, my own vision of a nightclub vibe with a sexuality inside and a space for people where they can feel free and enjoy, be open, and do whatever they want.
Eyal: I can fill in, because Alina is a very humble, humble person, and I’m not a humble person when it comes to Alina. (laughs) So when I met Alina—we’ve been together for 13 years—she had a night at a club, and the area was called kinky room (with no relation to KNKY Rabbit).
Alina: I came up with the name. I like the name kinky for some reason.
Eyal: I fell in love with her, I think, right away. It was a really strong connection. And we were both interested in the world of sexuality and exploring it. We wanted to try and see what this world looks like. And so we went to all kind of clubs around here, but they were really they were not our vibe at all. It was very hardcore swinger parties. I always found that people are so nice there, and so open and so fun, that’s the most important thing there, especially the couples. And that’s something that really resonates with me. I really enjoy watching people in their 60s say that they love each other so much. You know, after with kids and everything, it’s not easy. It’s a crazy journey. And so me, it makes me feel very excited about this world.
Alina: I just didn’t like the whole aspect of when you go to those parties, it’s just basically all about the sex. What I wanted to create is more like the vibe of a club. You have a drink, you meet people, and then if something happens, it happens.
Eyal: So actually, the same club that Alina and I met [at], which had the kinky room … someone told us that there is a small party called Sanctum, and that’s where they started, in Hollywood, in a small club. Alina was really excited, and she saw how the person who created it allowed himself to do much more than what she thought was possible in the way of sexuality, because there’s rules that you have to follow when it comes to nudity and alcohol.
So Alina started working with them, and I was there as a spectator, so I saw the transition of how it started, and the whole vibe and the creative element. But like Alina mentioned, I didn’t feel connected there. It was very male driven, like very wealthy guys with a lot of young girls. As a couple, we’re looking for our own community like us that love each other and want to explore, but we couldn’t find it. So we decided to build one, right? [That’s when] Alina started creating those parties every quarter.
Alina: When I create different shows, they are never the same. There’s always something unique at every event.
Eyal: I think you can easily feel that the vibe is coming from a mindset of a feminine energy. And then you can see also our all our members are very driven by it, and it dictates how things are happening. That’s why it makes so easy for a lot of couples, and especially single ladies, to join us and feel very powerful and safe, right? We work with a lot of adult performers and and models, and they feel very safe. And we see also the transition around their world, how they started very quietly, and this fear and they don’t know what to do, and now they’re like all blooming, not even in a sexual way, but in their own personal life. And that goes along with with our members and so on, couples that just love each other more and more every day. And that’s for me, that’s the crown jewel of our club.
Alina: We are very selective, though, because in order to create this specific crowd, there has to be a specific type of person that is inside. If there’s someone who’s like, “Oh, I want to find a girl” … we can’t have those people. So it’s really a crazy process of making sure that the crowd is right.
Playboy: How do you screen people and know that they feel right? Is it a gut feeling?
Eyal: That’s my side of the business. Alina is is more on the creative. She’s the one who decides how all the creative and all the energy of the club will go, so I took it upon myself to just do the application process. It starts as an online application. We get hundreds of applications every day, and then we will choose maybe one out of 100.
When I choose the right people, then we set up a call. With some people, it’s five minutes, and with some people, it’s an hour. I feel their intentions without even saying anything. I just have a very high understanding of of who fits and who doesn’t. After their call, we give them an opportunity to join one of the events, and then, and then the application process goes along throughout the entire event.
We always check in and listen to our community. If someone feels any even the slightest bit uncomfortable with someone, no matter what it is … there are some people that just don’t fit. It’s an ongoing process, but there’s no right or wrong or anything like that.
Alina: The community is not that big.
Eyal: It’s a couple of thousand at the moment, and it’s growing and growing every year.
Alina: We don’t have single guys by themselves.
Eyal: We do have other parties. The next party that we’re going to do with Playboy, that will be a new venture. It’s a social party.
Alina: It’s still very selective, but it’s a little bit more open.
Playboy: Can members only come to parties? Or are parties separate from the way that the ecosystem of the whole club works?
Eyal: So the the top tier is obviously the club, and what we created recently (with parties) is from a few elements. One is for a more younger crowd who can’t afford to join our club because the clubs have a high price point because of the crazy production that we’re doing at each event. And it’s also for a lot of singles to meet others. The social events are the lower tier. So obviously the price point is lower and more like of a teacher party to meet other people.
Alina: And we created the Kinky Connect. It’s another platform.
Playboy: From what you’ve said so far, I get the feeling that if I came to KNKY Rabbit, that I would not be required to participate in sex if I didn’t want to.
Eyal: No, not at all. We have couples that they’ve been with us for so many years. They usually use the club as their foreplay. So they just go there to watch others and enjoy, and then they go home and have the craziest sex ever.
People always ask us, is this sex party? Swinger party? It’s definitely not. It’s something different. It’s more of an experience than a party. And if you do want to do something, you can, but if you don’t, you can just go around, watch, talk to people, meet other people. So you don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to. And that’s something that we always felt was needed, because we didn’t feel comfortable going to a house sex party and just having sex. It was weird to us.
KNKY Rabbit Club’s Alina and Eyal. Photo: Edward Aninaru
Playboy: I do think some people struggle with figuring out how they could enter the kink world and feel safe.
Alina: I feel like there’s a sort of misconception it’s dirty, it’s leather and latex. But I make it very glamorous and light and fun, which makes people feel like it’s more inviting, although we still have spanking. We have shibari, but I transform it and make it more glamorous, maybe with gold rope.
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Playboy: I’m wondering if there’s anything you’re dreaming of creating that will take it one step further.
Alina: One of the next things for sure for us is a hotel/club, like a kind of boutique hotel where you spend the night, and the people around you are like-minded.
Eyal: It’s not like a sex hotel, but it’s sexy. It’s kind of like when people go to Burning Man, there’s sensuality around it, but there’s not really a lot of sexuality. It’s not the main point. So it’s an experience for adults only, which would start at a dinner or at the club or at a room level. And people of all kinds of energies will come and meet and enjoy a great evening or weekend together. So that’s something that we’ve been dreaming of, and we actually working on right now.
Playboy: What does kink mean to each of you? What are your definitions?
Eyal: I think that kink is something very individual that everyone sees in their own way. Because for some people a thing can be so normal, but for the other person, it’s so kinky, you know?
Alina: But then, on the other side, for people that are really in the heart of the kink community, they’re like, there’s nothing like hardcore going on [at KNKY Rabbit]. So we are like a very soft introduction to kink. It’s more the cute version of kink. I love to see different kinks and fetishes, and then basically create my own version and put it all into the shows, and then see how I can connect things that don’t really fit together, and create something magical and different out of it.