Jonathan Ive

Jonathan Paul Ive CBE (casually called Jony Ive and mistakenly called Jonathan Ives) was born in February 1967 in London and grew up in Chingford, Essex. He is renowned for the products he has created as Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Computer, including the iconic iMac and iPod. Today he lives in California and continues to work at Apple on world-changing products like the iPhone.

Early Years

In keeping with Jonathan’s fiercely-protected privacy, information is scarce about his life before joining Apple in 1992. Indeed his exact date of birth is not known by Apple and could not be published by Who’s Who when it featured him in 2007.

In interviews Jonathan has spoken about always being interested in the construction of objects as a child, and a fascination with taking those objects apart.

After attending school in the south of England he moved North to study art and design (some sources cite “industrial design”) at Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) in 1985. One of his tutors was Bob Young. He graduated with first class honours having created a pebble-shaped concept for a product to replace cash and credit cards as his final year project.

Tangerine

In 1990 Jonathan moved to London and co-founded his own design studio, Tangerine, with Martin Darbyshire.

At Tangerine Ive commercialised his design skills, creating products ranging from hair combs and power tools to televisions and ceramics.

A large client of Tangerine was the bathroom and plumbing company Ideal Standard for whom Jonathan designed toilets - after seeking inspiration from marine biology books.

Apple

Apple was a client of Tangerine and in 1992 Jonathan moved to Cupertino, California to join Apple’s design team full-time. Joining Apple full-time meant Jonathan could finally overcome his frustration at the lack of influence he had as an external consultant.

When Jonathan joined Apple the company was at its lowest ebb. On an executive level Steve Jobs had been ousted in a boardroom coup orchestrated by John Sculley, and the company became embroiled in a bitter patent dispute with Microsoft over the Windows operating system. Apple became unprofitable and was losing ground to Windows by the day.

Apple’s floundering design department had stretched itself thin, creating an ever expanding range of computers and unsuccessfully expanding into consumer electronics with the Newton and QuickTake digital camera. The breadth of the product range caused confusion among Apple customers and this, coupled with embarassing product recalls, contributed to a business on the brink of bankruptcy. Eventually Apple was forced to look elsewhere, and contracted Sony to work on a project which would become the PowerBook.

This outsourcing of design, together with the agreement which allowed the Mac OS to be run on third party ‘clone’ computers, marked the darkest days of a company which prided itself on its design sensibility, independent spirit and seamless integration of hardware and software.

With his dramatic return to the company in 1997, Steve Jobs began to revive Apple’s fortunes and return it to the industry leader that it is today. Jonathan Ive was instrumental to this turnaround, and under the new Jobs-led Apple he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Industrial Design and began a period of unrivalled creativity and innovation which continues to this day.

The launch of the radical and visually stunning iMac G3 is regarded as the birth of the ‘new Apple’ and brought Jonathan Ive to the attention of the world. From this point onwards there was no stopping Jonathan and the Apple Design team. From the iBook to the PowerBook all Apple’s products were met with universal acclaim and became instant masterpieces of product design, spawning countless imitations.

Today, as Apple’s market share and profits grow, Jonathan’s products continue to push the boundaries of convention and drive Apple forward into new markets. From the latest iPods to the new iPhone, and through enormous care and passion, Jonathan brings refreshing simplicity, elegance and innovation to everything he touches.

Influences

Of course Jonathan’s work has influenced countless people across the world, from students to practitioners design at the highest level, but what influences Ive himself? Here are a few suggestions:

Personality and private life

Jonathan is a modest and shy person, who often seems uncomfortable with the attention and celebrity his work has generated. When he won the D&AD award it was Steve Jobs that collected the award and made the acceptance speech although Jonathan attended the event. In interviews he seeks to avoid personal questions, preferring to keep the focus on his work, and constantly emphasizing the teamwork that goes into Apple’s products.

In contrast to this modesty Jonathan is animated when talking about his work, exhibiting an obsessive passion about design and attention to detail, and an almost geeky interest in the specifics and technicalities of his work.

Reluctance to answer personal questions means very little is known about Jonathan’s private life. He lives modestly, inhabiting a two bedroom house in Twin Peaks, San Francisco with his wife Heather (a historian) and their twin sons. As is widely reported and commented on, Jonathan’s only concession to luxury appears to be his top of the range Aston Martin coupe.

Jonathan’s fame has also brought celebrity admirers such as Bono and David Byrne and some of these have turned into friends. Specifically Jonathan is good friends with fashion designer Paul Smith and DJ John Digweed.

Little else is known about Jonathan outside Apple, except, judging by his bulging appearance, he must also spend a lot of time in the gym.

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