Yves Behar, one of the most significant industrial designers on the contemporary scene, is this year nominee for Icon of the year by the inaugural Icon Awards for British architecture and design.

Growing up in Switzerland, son of a East German mother and a Turkish father, what Yves loved the most in his childhood, was skiing and wind surfing and these two among story telling have been a very strong influence in his work. Presently, he is passionate about surfing which he said it’s not so different from designing, since both processes require improvisation and are driven by innovation, what’s new and what’s next. By his words, the answer has to be different every time and you have to be ahead of that’s already up there, both in designing and surfing.  Behar, studied industrial design in Europe and United States, and in 1999 founded Fuseproject, a creative firm, based in San Francisco, dedicated to sustainable designs for living, contributing to areas that include furniture, technology, sports, fashion and lifestyle. Examples of Fuseproject’s diverse projects include the LEAF light and other furniture projects for Herman Miller. His innovative designs have gathered more than 150 awards win, including two INDEX: Awards, which recognize designs with the potential to improve lives. His products are exhibited in the Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne/Centre Pompidou, the MOMA, the Munich Museum of Applied Arts and the Chicago Art Institute.