Yves Béhar

Yves Béhar is a Swiss designer, entrepreneur, and educator. He is the founder and principal designer of Fuseproject, an award-winning industrial design, and brand development firm. Béhar is also co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of August, a smart lock company acquired by Assa Abloy in 2017, and he is co-founder of Canopy, a co-working space based in San Francisco.

In 2011, the Conde Nast Innovation and Design Awards recognized him as Designer of the Year. His clients have included Herman Miller, Movado, PUMA, Kodak, MINI, Western Digital, See Better to Learn Better, General Electric, Swarovski, Samsung, Happiest Baby, Jimmyjane, Prada, and Cobalt Robotics.

He studied drawing and industrial design in both Europe and the United States. Béhar attended school in Lausanne, Switzerland, and at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In 1991, he received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design from the Art Center College of Design. Before founding Fuseproject, Yves was the design leader at the Silicon Valley offices of frog design and Lunar Design, developing product identities for clients such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Silicon Graphics.

n 1999, Béhar founded the San Francisco and New York-based industrial design and brand management firm Fuseproject. At Fuseproject, Béhar oversees product design for various industrial sectors, including fashion, lifestyle, sports, and technology. His clients include Herman Miller, PUMA, One Laptop per Child, Jawbone, Kodak, See Better to Learn Better, General Electric, Swarovski, Samsung, Jimmyjane, and Prada. In 2010, Fuseproject won the Industrial Designers Society of America IDSA IDEA/Fast Company awards with 14 winning products.

He is the chief industrial designer of One Laptop per Child XO laptop, signed on with the project in 2005, and has been with the team since March 2006. This collaboration has led to two additional laptop prototypes, the OLPC XOXO and OLPC XO-3. From 2005–2012, he was chair of the Industrial Design Program at California College of the Arts. Béhar's work has been featured in museums and exhibitions worldwide, including at the Mudac, Design Miami, and in the permanent collection at MoMA, and SFMoMA, where Béhar is currently sitting on the Board of Trustees.

Béhar was the Chief Creative Officer of the wearable technology company, Jawbone from 2003 until 2017. In 2010, Béhar redesigned the Jawbone branding, packaging, communications, and products. Behar designed the JAMBOX and BIG JAMBOX, a family of Bluetooth compact audio speakers, and the UP: Jawbone's app-powered health and wellness wristband. In addition, Béhar collaborated with Ceft and Company New York for the Jawbone headset visuals. As of 2017, Jawbone was being liquidated, and the money was being used for a new health start-up called Jawbone Health.

He is the chief industrial designer of One Laptop per Child (OLPC's) XO laptop, signed on with the project in 2005, and has been with the team since March 2006. This collaboration has led to two additional laptop prototypes, the OLPC XOXO and OLPC XO-3. In 2009, he collaborated with Ethan Imboden of Jimmyjane on a line of waterproof rechargeable vibrators. In addition, he partnered with Peel, a company that created an app and hardware to turn mobile devices into universal television remotes. Other investment and partner companies include Mint Cleaner and Herman Miller.

In June 2012, Yves Behar and Ouya partnered to create an open, hackable game platform. The initiative launched on Kickstarter and raised over $8.5 million with over 63,000 backers. In addition, SodaStream International teamed with Béhar to introduce Source, a new home soda machine designed with a particular emphasis on sustainability.

In June 2014, Béhar partnered with Mark One to announce Vessyl, a proposed smart drinking glass designed to help users make better decisions about their health and overall consumption. Unfortunately, the product never shipped after taking in more than $11m in funding ($7m in institutional funding and $4m in preorders). Finally, in October 2015, Béhar and Movado announced a design collaboration, beginning with the Movado Edge; this is the first design partnership for the brand since the launch of their original Museum Dial watches in 1947.

Béhar launched the world's first smart bassinet with Harvey Karp in October 2016, utilizing robotic technology to simulate the 5 S technique detailed in Happiest Baby on the Block. In 2017, Behar introduced The Frame, a collaboration with Samsung; The Frame is a smart TV that displays a piece of artwork from a world-renowned artist instead of going black when turned off. The Frame now has a vast art collection with works from the Van Gogh Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, and the Prado.

In 2017, Béhar made international news with his work with Fusebox on the Juicero juicer. It was known for limited functionality and high price, designed with known limitations for the user - putting Fuseproject's design reputation on the line. In addition, Béhar created a model of security robots for use in workspaces which Cobalt Robotics launched in 2017.