Designing Ideas

Since founding his studio fuseproject in 1999, Yves Béhar has redefined the role of the designer, expanding his work to encompass client commissions alongside public-sector work and entrepreneurial engagements. In doing so, Béhar has produced groundbreaking, award-winning designs that have had a positive impact on the well-being of people in developing countries and impoverished communities, creating everything from laptops and spectacles for children to stylish electronics. His clients have included MIT Media Lab, BMW, Microsoft, Swarovski and many more.A comprehensive retrospective of Béhar’s twenty-year career, this book presents his work in topical thematic chapters – ‘Reducing’, ‘Sensing’, ‘Transforming’, ‘Giving’, ‘Humanizing’ and ‘Scaling’ – and explores over sixty projects in detail, through text descriptions, sketches and exquisite studio photography. Offering thorough and sometimes personal insights into the conception, process and production of some of the most recognized pieces of contemporary design, this monograph illuminates the designer’s particular fusion of creativity and commercial savvy, as well as his studio’s expertise in combining the latest Silicon Valley technologies with social responsibility and business acumen.