Best Inventor

This designer has created some of the most creative inventions of the year.

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"If you're passionate about something," says industrial designer Yves Béhar, "follow your emotions."

The San Francisco-based innovator makes utilitarian objects that often become design icons, such as the Jawbone Bluetooth headset, the Birkenstock gardening clog, and the Herman Miller leaf lamp. Béhar, 40, who founded the Fuseproject design studio in 1999, says his latest project is the "Y" bottle (left), which holds nine ounces of vitamin water in environmentally friendly, 100% recyclable plastic. It's also a construction game. "The bottles link together into various structures that teach kids about design and the environment," Béhar says.

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From Reader's Digest - May 2008

 

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