AdAge is reporting (registration required) that agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky has bought a stake in Fuseproject, the industrial design consultancy headed by Yves Behar. I don’t often hear of these sorts of deals. The last one I recall was Plantronics taking over frogdesign. Hard to miss as that got plenty of press.

Of course in many parts of the world – especially Asia – design firms are joined at the hip with large partners; usually factories. Whether that kind of thing will become the norm in the U.S. I’m unsure. It might be worth keeping an eye out for more of these relationships.