Yves Béhar’s résumé features a dizzying roster of established global brands and potentially world-changing ideas. But among a handful of hits is a long list of failed and forgettable Silicon Valley-bankrolled products, some of which—a $700 juicer for pouches which reviewers discovered could be squeezed by hand—have become poster children for design’s extravagant knack for solving the wrong problems.
In a new Fast Company feature deftly reported by Austin Carr, Béhar laments the fact that he hasn’t achieved the same level of fame—or, perhaps, respect—as his peers. At a posh San Francisco event, he tells his fellow partygoers: “Ten years ago, I was on the cover, and now they’re doing that story of, ‘Whatever happened to Yves Béhar?’ ”
Béhar is undoubtedly a very well-known designer who elevated the profession along with his own profile. But for all Béhar’s big-time commissions, media appearances, and speaking engagements, writes Carr, he’s regarded by his colleagues as someone who is “willing to slap his name on anything: robots, smart turntables, body sensors—products that look sexy but rarely live up to the hype.”
Once a darling of the design press, Béhar’s newest product launches—a smart lock, a robot crib, a flat-screen monitor for displaying art—have been met with growing criticism about their usefulness (as well as their price tags). Here are seven excerpts from the story that might explain why.