Yves Behar doesn’t really need any introduction. The world-renowned Swiss designer is a frequent creative artist in the gadget realm. He’s designed iconic devices like the OLPC, Jawbone Jambox, Herman Miller SAYL chair, and many more. From an interview, where he also talks about his smart lock company August: Input: What is your favorite gadget right now that’s not the new August smart lock?
Yves: My funnest, latest gadget is my electric bicycle. It’s kind of changed the way I think about mobility and getting around. I think that both scooters and electric bicycles really make you not hesitate to go somewhere. Instead of going in a car, you just are outside and you can go on a hike, you can go pick up something, and so those are my two latest acquisitions and fun things to use.
Input: What is the one piece of tech you’re most excited for? Whether that’s autonomous cars or like anything that’s far-flung?
Yves: I live in San Francisco so solving city-level transportation is the most interesting opportunity. It’s an opportunity to reshape the landscape of a city. To take back streets, to put more people, more housing, more density in cities, which I think is very important both from a human standpoint and environmental standpoint. So I’m really excited about both individual cars and public transportation being autonomous, being on-demand, and clearing the street of all that parking and all those cars.
Input: As a designer, what is your favorite material to work with? What material really challenges you or you love working with?
Yves: Over the span of my career, I’m not one of these designers who is known for making everything in white or black or having a singular material.
Input: Haha, mmm, that guy [Jony Ive] is no longer at that company [Apple].
Yves: [Laughs] What I’ve always been interested in is sustainability and I think, today, with what we see with plastics and packaging, and the environment — we really need to move towards bioplastics. Materials that will not only be recycled, but that will be beneficial for the Earth when they decompose. So whether you’re doing packaging or doing products, I think we need to move towards that and there aren’t enough new materials. There’s research being done, but at scale, currently, what we really need is some environmentally sound material that can be used and reused, and can help us move away from the sort of environmental disasters that we’re experiencing.
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Source: Slashdot – Q&A With Legendary Designer Yves Behar