Yves Behar
Yves Behar
Yves Béharis a Swiss designer, entrepreneur, and sustainability advocate. He is the founder and principal designer of Fuseproject, an award-winning industrial design and brand development firm. Béhar is also Chief Creative Officer of the wearable technology company Jawbone, and Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of August, a smart lock company...
NationalitySwiss
ProfessionDesigner
CountrySwitzerland
designing life nature spent
Part of my life is spent designing in urban centers, and part of my life has been spent in factories. But the other part of my life is spent in nature.
agency clients design few steve
When clients come to my design agency and say 'I want to be the Apple of this or that,' we say 'Okay, are you ready to be the Steve Jobs?' Few are up to the task.
business company design experience industry knowledge large learned primary role silicon valley
What I learned from my years in Silicon Valley is that design can have a primary role in how a business is shaped, how a company can be design-driven. In my experience of large industry in Europe, that knowledge has been lost.
became brings design express founded late life love obsession realized slogan stories teen writer
I wanted to be a writer as a teen... so storytelling was my first love. In my late teens, design became an obsession as I realized that I could express myself through the medium. Much later, when I founded Fuseproject in 1999, our slogan became 'design brings stories to life.'
best design founder incentives mindset opportunity spend time work
The best design work is really done when you spend more time with people, when you have the opportunity to be of the same mindset and the same incentives as the founder of the business.
aesthetic aims certainly design relevance
Design certainly has a cosmetic, aesthetic aim. It always aims at making things beautiful. But relevance is just as important. I often say, 'If it isn't ethical, it can't be beautiful. But if it isn't beautiful, it probably shouldn't be at all.'
design needs relationship
Design needs a new relationship with the world, one that is more focused on our planet's needs.
adoption design good mantra
My mantra is: 'Good design accelerates the adoption of new ideas.'
change charles designers greatest help industry influenced italy radical time war
I've been influenced by some of the greatest designers. Charles Eames. And Bruno Munari in the '50s in Italy - when they had to retool the industry of war into an industry to help society. In a way, I'm influenced by designers that were there at a radical time of change.
design disrupt either existing markets
Design is a tool that either allows us to create new markets or disrupt existing ones.
emotional glasses design
To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. Design is how you treat your customers. If you treat them well from an environmental, emotional, and aesthetic standpoint, you're probably doing good design.
conversation creative games good great ideal laughs moment surf work
An ideal day for me is a combination of a fun-exciting creative moment with work partners, some laughs and games with my kids, a good surf session, and great conversation with friends around a meal.
love
If you don't love something, it's not functional, in my opinion.
attainable biggest challenge innovate invest less low lower money order people point price technology
The biggest challenge is that when people look at low price point products, they essentially invest less money in development, innovation, and new technology. And in order to innovate at a lower price point, and make sustainability attainable to the masses, you have to invest more. But that's counterintuitive for a lot of businesses.