A simple container is one of the most basic and iconic forms a designer can create. In their playful and experimental concepts for bottles and packaging, Yves Béhar and his studio, fuseproject, have explored the essential qualities of “containmen” as both an abstract aesthetic and a particular design challenge.

The bottle Béhar designed for spacescent perfume is an exercise in negative space. The perfume is enclosed in a classic vial-shaped chamber and surrounded by a brick of clear resin that exaggerates and emphasizes the protected zone around the precious fluid.

Yves Béhar exemplifies an emerging breed of digitally literate designers who are moving beyond questions of functionality and problem solving, and thinking instead about conceptual narratives. Constructing such narratives enables Béhar to think about the consumer’s intended interaction with an object, to identify a particular feeling associated with using the product. Contemporary consumers often use stories and context to differentiate products, and the most successful brands are those that marry narrative with tactility. For Béhar, the most important component in an object’s design is ultimately “how it feels in your hands.”