Yves Béhar
Yves Béhar (born 9 May 1967) is a Swiss-born American designer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and principal designer of Fuseproject, an industrial design and brand development firm. Béhar is also the co-founder and chief creative officer of August Home, a smart lock company acquired by Assa Abloy in 2017, and co-founder of Canopy, a co-working space based in San Francisco.
Also recorded as Yves Behar
Yves Béhar

Eirik Solheim · Flickr: Yves Behar · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Yves Béhar
- Born
- 9 May 1967
- Birthplace
- Lausanne, Switzerland
- Education
- B.S.
- Occupation
- Industrial designer, entrepreneur, educator
- Nationality
- Switzerland
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Yves Béhar (born 9 May 1967) is a Swiss-born American designer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and principal designer of Fuseproject, an industrial design and brand development firm. Béhar is also the co-founder and chief creative officer of August Home, a smart lock company acquired by Assa Abloy in 2017, and co-founder of Canopy, a co-working space based in San Francisco.
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In this article
Biography
Biography
His clients have included Herman Miller, Movado, PUMA, Kodak, MINI, Western Digital, See Better to Learn Better, General Electric, Swarovski, Samsung, SNOO'S Happiest Baby Smart Bassinet, Jimmyjane, Prada and Cobalt Robotics.
Yves Béhar studied at Art Center College of Design. Employment is recorded with Jawbone and California College of the Arts. Work by Yves Béhar is recorded in the collections of Design Museum Gent, Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Yves Béhar • Other Names — Yves Behar • Born — 9 May 1967 • Birthplace — Lausanne, Switzerland • Education — B.S. Art Center College of Design • Occupation — Industrial designer, entrepreneur, educator • Children — 4
Early life, education, and early career
Early life, education, and early career
Béhar was born in 1967 in Lausanne, Switzerland to a German mother, Christine Béhar, and a Sephardi Jewish father, Henry Béhar, whose ancestors were expelled from a ghetto in Venice and resettled in Turkey. 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 degree in industrial design from the Art Center College of Design. Prior to founding Fuseproject, Béhar was 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. From 2005–2012, he was chair of the Industrial Design Program at California College of the Arts.
Fuseproject
Fuseproject
Fuseproject In 1999, Béhar founded the San Francisco and New York-based industrial design and brand management firm Fuseproject. At Fuseproject, Béhar oversees product design for a variety of industrial sectors, including fashion, lifestyle, sports and technology. His clients include Herman Miller, PUMA, One Laptop per Child, Jawbone, Kodak, Mission Motors, See Better to Learn Better, General Electric, Swarovski, Samsung, Jimmyjane, and Prada. In 2010, Fuseproject was the top winner of the Industrial Designers Society of America IDSA IDEA/Fast Company awards with 14 winning products.
Design ventures and work
Design ventures and work
Béhar is a sustainability advocate who argues that a designer's role is to create products that are both commercially viable and contribute to social good. Béhar is a member of the Founder's Circle of the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute, a non-profit organization founded in 2010 in order to educate and empower manufacturers of consumer products to focus on environmental impact and social fairness.
Jawbone (2003–2017)
Jawbone (2003–2017)
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 also the UP: Jawbone's app-powered health and wellness wristband. 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.
One Laptop per Child (2005)
One Laptop per Child (2005)
• Illustration — One Laptop per Child (The OLPC) XO laptop He is the chief industrial designer of One Laptop per Child (OLPC's) XO laptop, signing on with the project in 2005. This collaboration has led to two additional laptop prototypes, the OLPC XOXO and OLPC XO-3. Béhar designed a series of low-cost, low-power laptops for distribution to low-income schoolchildren. The impact of OLPC on developing countries was so great that Uruguay purchased approximately 1,000,000 OLPC devices, and Rwanda has included an image of the OLPC XO notebook on their new currency.
Jimmyjane (2009)
Jimmyjane (2009)
In 2009, he collaborated with Ethan Imboden of Jimmyjane on a line of waterproof rechargeable vibrators. 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.
Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor (2010–2011)
Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor (2010–2011)
• Illustration — Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor eyeglasses Béhar designed eyeglasses for the "Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor" (in English "See Better to Learn Better") program. "Ver Bien para Aprender Mejor" has provided free pairs of custom-designed eyeglasses to students throughout Mexico since 2010. In May 2011, Béhar partnered with Tipping Point, a San Francisco-based philanthropic organization, who made a pledge to the "See Well to Learn" program, which aims to distribute free pairs of glasses to San Francisco Bay Area students.
SPRING Accelerator (2015)
SPRING Accelerator (2015)
Béhar is also the principal designer of the SPRING Accelerator programme created by the Nike Foundation, Girl Effect, USAID and DFID. The programme takes 18 entrepreneurs annually whose businesses provide products or services that directly impact the lives of adolescent girls living in poverty worldwide. The first cohort launched in June 2015, with entrepreneurs from Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda. Yves Béhar and fuseproject provide hands-on design support for the businesses, including brand identity, product design, interactive design, and service/business modeling – working directly with adolescent girls in order to maximize impact and scalability.
Other design work
Other design work
In 2008, Béhar redesigned the NYC Condom logo and packaging, as well as NYC Condom vending machines for the New York City Department of Health as a part of an initiative to reduce HIV/AIDS and teen pregnancy. In June 2012, Béhar 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 2012, SodaStream International teamed with Béhar to introduce Source, a new home soda machine designed with a special emphasis on sustainability. 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 watch in 1947. Béhar launched the world's first smart bassinet with Harvey Karp in October 2016, the Snoo Bassinet, 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, instead of going black when turned off, displays a piece of artwork from a world-renowned artist. The Frame has an extended art collection with works from the Van Gogh Museum, Andy Warhol Museum, and the Prado. In 2017, Béhar designed a model of security robots for use in workspaces which was launched by Cobalt Robotics.
Personal life
Personal life
Béhar has four children; Sky (born 2007) from a prior relationship and Sylver (born 2010), Soleyl (born 2014), and Saylor (born 2016) with Sabrina Buell. His children all have the letter Y in their name to honor his father, Henry. Béhar married Sabrina Buell in September 2017 at Burning Man, at the wooden Aluna structure designed by Colombian architect Juan David Marulanda.
Unsuccessful products
Unsuccessful products
In June 2014, Béhar partnered with Mark One to announce Vessyl, a proposed intelligent drinking glass designed to help users make better decisions about their health and overall consumption. After taking in more than US$11m in funding ($7m in institutional funding, and $4m in preorders), the product never shipped. 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. Shortly after the criticism, the company closed.
Solo exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
• 2004 – The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, • 2004 – The Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts (MUDAC) in Lausanne, Switzerland,
Group exhibitions
Group exhibitions
• 2012 – Béhar's work, Alef of Life was a touring exhibition at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, as part of the exhibit "Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought: An Exhibition and The Dorothy Saxe Invitational". Béhar has work in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, and SFMoMA. Béhar is on the board of trustees for SFMoMA.
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Yves Béhar”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- VIAF cluster 15700143 for Yves Béhar, aggregating national library name authorities.
General reference · OCLC
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q123419: Yves Béhar
General reference · Wikidata
Awards and honors
Additionally, Béhar is the only designer to have received two Index: Awards, with an additional nomination for his design of Puma's "Clever Little Bag." • 2017 – Swiss Institute Honoree, Swiss Institute • 2015 – Design Visionary Award, Design Miami • 2014 – Béhar's company fuseproject listed among World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Design by Fast Company, • 2012 – Béhar was featured on a February 26, 2012 episode of CNN's The Next List. • 2011 – INDEX award for the OLPC XO laptop and the Verbien See Better to Learn Better, a collaboration with Augen Optics, eyeglass program • 2011 – Conde Nast Innovation and Design Awards, 2011: Yves Béhar – Designer of the Year, PUMA Clever Little Bag – Sustainability. • 2011 – Treehugger's Best of Green Architecture and Design Awards – Herman Miller SAYL and GE WattStation • 2010 – IDEA Awards 2010: ranked #1 winner with 14 awards in Fast Company • 2008 – Design Museum London "Design of the Year" award for One Laptop per Child (Brit Insurance 2008 Design Award) • 2007 – Béhar listed among TIMEs "Top 25 Visionaries" • 2007 – Fast Company 2007 Master of Design • 2004 – National Design Award, category of Product Design from the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Rogers, K. Yves Béhar. Encyclopedia Britannica. May 9, 2024.
- 2.Nussbaum, Bruce. Designers are the New Drivers of American Entrepreneurialism. FastCo.Design. 3 July 2010.
- 3.{title}.
- 4.Fast Company. IDSA's IDEA Awards 2010.
- 5.Zinko, Carolyne. Designer of the Future. SF Chronicle. 15 January 2012.
- 6.SAYL Chair. Smart Furniture.
- 7.The Maker's Mark: Yves Behar is the man behind Silicon Valley's most beautiful gadgets. The Verge. 6 August 2014.
- 8.Murrow, Lauren. It's Yves Behar's World. Modern Luxury.
- 9.Yves Behar: Fuseproject Founder. ArtCenter College of Design.
- 10.Ybehar | California College of the Arts.
- 11.Dwell on Design – Yves Behar. Dwell.
- 12."Sustainability and notions of social good are the new values of the twenty-first century, and designers need to integrate them into every project they do, every relationship with industry that they have. We have a huge role to play in ensuring that these values are seen as assets; they must help create a product that is incredibly attractive, delightful, exciting, and commercially viable," from the foreword by Behar in: Blossom, Eve (2011)Material Change: Design Thinking and the Social Entrepreneurship Movement p.6., Bellerophon Publications, Inc.
- 13.The Team, Yves Béhar. Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.
- 14.Perlroth, Nicole. Yves Behar: World's 7 Most Important People in Design. Forbes.
- 15.Technology company Jawbone goes into liquidation. Dezeen. 2017-07-11.
- 16.Yves Behar and Jawbone's "Up" is an App-Powered Wristband Promoting Healthy Living Read more: Yves Behar and Jawbone's "Up" is an App-Powered Wristband Promoting Healthy Living. Inhabitat.
- 17.advertising: Aliph's Jawbone ad campaign ceft and company new york. www.ceftandcompany.com. January 2014.
- 18.ceft and company new york. Jawbone Campaign and PR Visuals.
- 19.OLPC. FastCo Design. 10 January 2012.
- 20.Guglielmo, Connie. OLPC Still Bringing Tech 'Dreams' To Needy Kids With Very Cool Green Gadgets. Forbes.
- 21.A New Vibrator by Yves Behar Arouses Our Interest. Fast Company. 3 November 2009.
- 22.Engagdget. Peel Turns your iPhone into a universal remote. Engadget. 8 December 2010.
- 23.Mint Cleaner. Apartment Therapy.
- 24.Herman Miller Aims at Office Depot, With $399 Task Chair by Yves Behar. FastCo Design. 2010-10-07.
- 25.Yves Behar – design aiuta a vivere meglio -. wisesociety.it.
- 26.Bigelow, Catherine. Tipping Point Gala. SF Chronicle. 24 May 2011.
- 27.SPRING Accelerator.
- 28.Merrill, Austin. An Accelerator That Believes Businesses and Girls Are the Keys to Africa's Future. Vanity Fair Magazine. 2015-12-01.
- 29.NYC Condom. Dexigner. 17 February 2008.
- 30.OUYA: A New Kind of Video Game Console. Kickstarter. 25 June 2013.
- 31.Rose, Steve. SodaStream: Yves Béhar's fizzy drinks machine for the future. The Guardian. 18 September 2012.
- 32.Industrial Designer Yves Behar Joins Forces with Movado. Forbes. 2015-10-06.
- 33.The Best Co-Sleepers and Bassinets. The New York Times. 2021-03-25. 0362-4331.
- 34.Keller, Hadley. Yves Béhar's Cobalt Security Guard Is the Future of Robotics. Architectural Digest. March 2017.
- 35.Inside Yves Béhar and Sabrina Buell's High-Tech San Francisco Home. Vogue. 30 May 2016.
- 36.Bjarke Ingels, Yves Behar and more share Burning Man 2017 memories. Dezeen. 2017-09-11.
- 37.Intel Capital invests additional funding in a buggy smart cup. TechCrunch. 2016-06-16.
- 38.Silicon Valley's $400 Juicer May Be Feeling the Squeeze. Bloomberg.com. 2017-04-19.
- 39.Aouf, Rima Sabina. Yves Behar's Juicero juicer has its reputation shredded by social media. Dezeen. 2017-04-20.
- 40.INDEX: AWARD WINNER YVES BEHAR IS DOING GOOD.
- 41.Past Benefits Swiss Institute.
- 42.Design Visionary, Yves Béhar. DesignMiami.
- 43.THE WORLD'S TOP 10 MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES IN DESIGN. FastCompany. 2014.
- 44.IDSA. Fuseproject Featured on CNN's The Next List.
- 45.OLPC wins INDEX. Global Literacy Foundation.
- 46.Slevin, Jacob. Designer Yves Béhar Helps Children of Mexico See Better. Huffington Post. 30 August 2011.
- 47.Autopia Yves Béhar: European car industry is tragically outdated. Wired UK.
- 48.SAYL. Indesign Live. 27 June 2011.
- 49.Yves Behar. Design Indaba.
- 50.Higgins, Charlotte. Hand-powered laptop for poorer countries wins award. The Guardian. 19 March 2008.
- 51.Van Dyk, Deidre. Top 25 Visionaries. Time Magazine. 14 August 2007.
- 52.The Power of Design. Cooltown Studios.
- 53.The Earth Awards.
- 54.Yves Béhar People. Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
- 55.SF Moma. MoCo.
- 56.Yves Behar. Design Within Reach.
- 57.The CJM Do Not Destroy: Trees, Art, and Jewish Thought: An Exhibition and The Dorothy Saxe Invitational. www.thecjm.org.
- 58.Yves Béhar MoMA. The Museum of Modern Art.
- 59.Yves Béhar fuseproject/design series 2. SFMOMA.
- 60.Yves Béhar Joins SFMOMA Board of Trustees. SFMOMA.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witnessauthority record
General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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