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Yves Behar is a global leader in design and the Founder and CEO of Fuseproject, a multi- award-winning design studio with offices in San Francisco and Lisbon. The creator’s collaboration with LAUFEN revolves around a shared affinity for pioneering design and a drive to find sustainable solutions to everyday challenges.
Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1967, Yves Behar was drawn to design in his teenage years. From the inception of his interest, he granted himself permission to explore and experiment with new ideas. He later studied design in Switzerland and at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, California, before founding his design and innovation studio Fuseproject in 1999.
Over the years, Behar has launched over 100 early-stage ventures, including August, SNOO, TELO Trucks and Uber, as well as hundreds of products and services for major brands such as Samsung, Herman Miller, L’Oréal, SodaStream and Nivea. His design philosophy is rooted in the belief that design accelerates the adoption of new ideas, shaping products and experiences that define categories and transform the way we live.
Behar is known for creating iconic products that establish new categories. Notable examples include the SNOO smart sleeper, which enhances infant sleep and safety, and the Herman Miller Sayl task chair, renowned for its innovative design and ergonomics. His portfolio includes the Samsung Frame TV, which blends art and technology by transforming into a piece of art when not in use.
Beyond consumer products, Behar has directed Fuseproject toward humanitarian initiatives, including a partnership with the non-profit The Ocean Cleanup and See Better to Learn Better, a programme providing 500,000 free corrective eyeglasses to schoolchildren in Mexico and California annually. Behar is the only designer to have received the prestigious INDEX Award for his contributions to designs that improve life globally.
Behar has increasingly focused on the integration of AI and robotics to create intelligent, human-centered solutions. His work in this field includes the design of Moxie, an emotionally intelligent robot companion developed by Embodied to support children's social, cognitive and emotional development. He also collaborated with Intuition Robotics on ElliQ, an AI-powered robot designed to assist the elderly by providing companionship and helping with daily tasks, enhancing both independence and well-being. Additionally, Fuseproject partnered with AES to design Maximo, an AI-driven robot that installs solar panels in half the time at half the cost. Through these projects, Behar is redefining how robotics and AI can seamlessly integrate into daily life to solve real-world challenges.
Behar’s work is included in the permanent collections of renowned museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou and the Art Institute of Chicago. A frequent speaker on design, sustainability, technology and entrepreneurship, Behar has presented at TED, the World Economic Forum in Davos and the Clinton Global Initiative. He also serves as the artist trustee on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Throughout his career, Behar has received over 300 awards, including the Design Miami/ 2015 Design Visionary Award, the London Design Museum’s Design of the Year, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and the IDSA Design of the Decade Award. TIME Magazine named Behar one of its Top 25 Visionaries and Forbes recently recognised him as the “Most Influential Industrial Designer in the World.”
LAUFEN commissioned Behar to create a washbasin commemorating the launch of the e-kiln, the world’s first zero-emission electric tunnel kiln for ceramic sanitaryware. The creator’s lifelong love of water – born on Lake Geneva and cultivated on the Pacific – led to a radical reimagining of the concept of the washbasin, bringing the poetry of the natural world into the bathroom while offering sustainability-driven functionality.
The starting point for the design was water itself. Unlike traditional washbasins in which the water flows out of the tap and directly disappears down the outlet, in VOLTA the water gracefully swirls, ripples and pools as it does in nature.
To achieve the natural flow of water, VOLTA was conceived from the inside out. Behar created a spiral ramp that enables the water to slowly circulate the basin before reaching the outlet. Saphirkeramik was instrumental in the construction of the slim silhouette of the interior and exterior walls.
The VOLTA collection comprises wall-hung and floor-standing basins in addition to bowls available in white, white LCC, white matt and black matt, all of which create the vortex water effect within the bowl.
Together LAUFEN and Yves Behar are breaking new ground through design. Inspired by the inauguration of the e-kiln, a world premiere in sanitaryware production, the VOLTA washbasin collection is radical in its design lines, sustainable features and production, and the poetry of the user experience. The union of inquisitive minds and pro-active attitudes brings the future into the present.
Following previews at major trade fairs in 2025, VOLTA was presented as a collection available for acquisition for the first time at Salone del Mobile 2026.
