Jony Ive

After a year with Roberts Weaver, Ive joined a London startup design agency called Oranges, located in Hoxton Square where he designed a diverse array of products, such as microwave ovens, toilets, drills and toothbrushes.[13] However, his frustration with the position reached a turning point after he designed a toilet, bidet, and sink for client Ideal Standard, and the company's boss rejected Ive's work, stating that the products were too costly and looked too modern.[13][14] Ive was unhappy working for clients whom he disliked and who had different ideas.[13] From 1990 to 1992, Robert Brunner, as he was ascending the corporate ladder, unsuccessfully attempted to recruit Ive to Apple.[12] During this time, Apple became a client of Oranges, and Ive spearheaded the firm's initial PowerBook designs.[13]

• 
  Apple Newton MessagePad, released in 1993. Ive designed the smaller models following the original
• 
  1998 iMac G3. Ive assisted Danny Coster in furthering the product's initial design, and is credited with designing its case
• 
  First iPod, released in 2001. Jon Rubinstein assembled the original design team including Ive as lead design engineer
• 
  A vector render of the 1st generation iPhone, introduced and put on the market in 2007. Its form factor is credited to Ive
• 
  Although Ive's studio began designing an iPad-like device before the iPhone, the iPad was first released in 2010

He was formally recruited to Apple as a full-time employee in September 1992.[13][12] Ive was initially apprehensive about leaving Tangerine for Apple as he thought the move from Britain to California would take a toll on his family.[12] His first major assignment in Apple's industrial design group regarded the second generation of the Newton and the MessagePad 110.[13] Initial design failures and lack of commercial success during the early 1990s, prompted Ive to nearly quit on multiple occasions.[13] Steve Jobs, who had been ousted by other Apple executives in 1985, was staging a return to the company and recruited Ive to join him in taking the firm in a different direction.[13] Jon Rubinstein, Ive's boss at the time, managed to retain Ive as an employee by explaining that Apple was "going to make history" following the revival of the company in 1996.[14]

He became the senior vice president of industrial design in 1997 after the return of Jobs, and subsequently headed the industrial design team responsible for most of the company's significant hardware products.[8] Ive's first design assignment in this capacity was the iMac; it helped pave the way for many other designs such as the iPod and eventually the iPhone and the iPad.[15] Ive explained the close rapport that existed in his working relationship with Jobs in 2014: "When we were looking at objects, what our eyes physically saw and what we came to perceive were exactly the same. And we would ask the same questions, have the same curiosity about things."[13]

Ive was given his own design office at Apple during the early 2000s in which he oversees the work of his appointed design team, and he is the only Apple designer with a private office. Only his core team—which consists of around 15 people from the UK, the US, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand (who have worked together for around two decades)—and top Apple executives are allowed into the office, as it contains all of the concepts, including prototypes, that the design team is working on.[13] Ive also refuses to allow his children or family members to enter the office.[14] During the early 2010s, Jobs declared that Ive "has more operational power than anyone else at Apple except me."[16] The offices of Jobs and Ive in Apple's Cupertino headquarters were linked through a hidden, built-in corridor with single-access doors.[17] In 2011 it was reported that Ive was paid $30 million in base salary with a $25 million stock bonus in total compensation for the year.[18] His compensation ceased to be publicly disclosed by the firm thereafter, rendering him the only Apple executive to be afforded such as provision.[18] A year later it was estimated that his net worth was £80 million.[9]

Ive played a pivotal role, with Norman Foster, in the design of Apple Park (pictured) throughout much of the 2010s, which officially opened in 2017

On 29 October 2012, Apple announced that Ive would "provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design."[19] With the 2013 World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) announcement of iOS 7 and Ive's role as principal, Apple press information was also updated to reflect his new title: Senior Vice President of Design.[19] In the same press update, Ive stated that he hoped his best work was yet to emerge and that he preferred to be identified as a maker of products, rather than a designer.[19] On 26 May 2015, the firm announced that Ive was promoted to chief design officer (CDO), at the time one of only three C-level executives at Apple along with CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri (Jeff Williams would be promoted to COO at the end of 2015).[20] On 8 December 2017, Apple announced that Ive would resume direct responsibility for the company's product design after spending the preceding two years in a more executive, non-creative role.[21]

Apple announced on 27 June 2019 that Ive would depart the company, stating that he would start an independent firm titled LoveFrom, along with fellow Apple industrial designer Marc Newson, that would work with Apple as its primary client.[22][23][24][25][26][27]

Ive received an honorary degree from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in 2009.

On 25 May 2017, it was announced that Ive was appointed Chancellor of the RCA in London effective 1 July 2017.[28] In this position he serves a fixed five-year term as the Head of College, where he will govern the college as an academic administrator.[28] Ive began running committee meetings, attending faculty meetings, and conferring graduate degrees in the summer of 2017.[29]

Ive said of the appointment: "I am thrilled to formalise my relationship with the RCA, given the profound influence the college has had on so many of the artists and designers that I admire."[30]

Since his early years in England, Ive has expressed an interest in automobiles and automotive design.[8] While in university he drove a Fiat 500.[46] He frequently attends auto shows and exhibitions such as the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where he serves as a jury member for competitions.[37][47]

It has been reported that Ive's preferred automobile manufacturers were all British: Aston Martin, Bentley, and Land Rover.[46] Ive has been linked to owning a wide-variety of automobiles including: an Aston Martin DB4,[37] Aston Martin DB9,[46] Aston Martin Vanquish,[46] Bentley Brooklands,[46] Bentley Mulsanne,[48] Land Rover LR3,[46] and a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud.[37]