WHETHER IT delights or depresses you, this is the month of stuff - buying, giving, getting. What if the stuff we bought not only served a purpose and gave us pleasure but helped change the world?

No problem, or at least not to Yves Behar, one of today's hottest designers.

Over the past decade, the 42-year-old Swiss-born inventor has turned his San Francisco-based fuseproject into the go-to design group when companies are looking for something different with a social responsible edge.

From Birkenstocks to the Bluetooth headset to Mini's "lifestyle" products to Pact's organic underwear with a cause to New York City's "get some" condoms packaging to his revolutionary child-size One Laptop Per Child computer - there isn't much that hasn't had the Behar touch.

"Great design," he says, "is a way to tell people that you value them."

Reporter John Beck caught up with Behar - who escapes to his West Marin retreat to relax and surf - to talk about design, pleasure, giving the public what they want and social consciousness.

Thoughts? E-mail me at editor.here@gmail.com.

- Vicki Larson, here editor