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Sir Jony Ive has blasted “anonymous, poorly-made objects” and “theft” of Apple designs in a rare interview, in which he also remembered Steve Jobs’ “stinging” but “surgically precise” opinions.
Chingford-born, Blue Peter badge-holding Ive, Apple’s revered and enobbled industrial designer turned overall design guru is in charge of the whole Apple experience, guiding both hardware and software design.
“We’re surrounded by anonymous, poorly-made objects,” laments Ive. “It’s tempting to think it’s because the people who use them don’t care — just like the people who make them. But what we’ve shown is that people do care. It’s not just about aesthetics. They care about things that are thoughtfully conceived and well made.”
“Our success is a victory for purity, integrity — for giving a damn.”
In fact, Ive would only call it a day with the company that bears his fingerprints in the DNA of its products if that thoughtful ethos ever fell by the wayside.
“Yes. I’d stop,” Ive told The Sunday Times this weekend. “I’d make things for myself, for my friends at home instead. The bar needs to be high.” Imagine being one of Jony Ive’s mates — “Oh, you made me another lamp…? Thanks J, I’ll, er, put it with the others.”
In the interview (which is behind a paywall, sadly) Ive also railed against “theft” of Apple designs, but sidestepped mentioning any rivals by name — unlike Apple co-founder and former figurehead Steve Jobs, who before his death infamously declared “thermonuclear war” on Google’s Android, which he described as “a stolen product.”
“Yes, he had a surgically precise opinion,” says Ive of Jobs. “Yes, it could sting. Yes, he constantly questioned. “Is this good enough? Is this right?” But he was so clever. His ideas were bold and magnificent. They could suck the air from the room.”
