Jony Ive is LEAVING Apple: Firm announces its chief design officer is departing to start his own company – and his former employer will be the first client
- Apple’s design chief Jony Ive will leave Apple to start his own design firm
- Ive has held his position at the company for nearly 30 years
- In a statement Apple said that Ive will continue to work with the company
Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive is breaking out on his own after nearly 30 years at the company.
On Thursday, Ive announced a plan to start his own design company called LoveFrom.
And, it will count Apple among its first clients.
Apple says Ive will continue to work closely with the firm on ‘a range of projects’ as he takes on his own ventures, and will remain in his current role until he departs later this year.
Apple’s chief design officer Jony Ive (left, next to CEO Tim Cook) is breaking out on his own after nearly 30 years at the company
‘After nearly 30 years and countless projects, I am most proud of the lasting work we have done to create a design team, process and culture at Apple that is without peer,’ Ive said.
‘Today it is stronger, more vibrant and more talented than at any point in Apple’s history,’ said Ive.
‘The team will certainly thrive under the excellent leadership of Evans, Alan and Jeff, who have been among my closest collaborators. I have the utmost confidence in my designer colleagues at Apple, who remain my closest friends, and I look forward to working with them for many years to come.’
Jony Ive is a long-time Apple designer who is responsible for pioneering many of the company’s most iconic products.
Ive has followed the company’s rise since 1996 and was eventually put in charge of designing the company’s software in 2012.
Among the most pivotal designs are the 1998 iMac, equipped with colorful side panels, as well as the company’s sleek iPad.
Ive has left his post after nearly 30 years to start his own design firm ‘LoveFrom.’
Wearable technolgoy is of particular interest according to Ive, though the heavyweight has yet to fully detail specific projects.
Designers Evans Hankey, vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, will jointly replace Ive according to the company.
Ive first joined Apple’s design team in 1996 and has contributed to many of Apple’s iconic designs including its colorful 1998 iMac, the company’s ever-growing list of iPhones, and in 2012 CEO Tim Cook put the Apple mainstay in charge of software as well.
In a wide ranging interview with the Financial Times, Ive said that now seemed like a ‘natural and gentle time’ to leave the company and venture on his own.
LoveFrom will borrow from Apple’s current roster, bringing designer Marc Newson, who joined Apple in 2014, along with him, according to the Financial Times. The two will work on Apple projects and non-Apple projects alike.
The iMac took consumers by storm with its colorful side panels and unique user interface that helped differentiate Apple products from its peers.
As far as specific ventures in the designer’s cross hairs, Ive said that wearable technology, especially those in the health and wellness sphere.
‘We saw we could use technology to be extraordinarily useful in relation to our health and wellbeing,’ Ive told the Financial TImes. ‘
‘This area is one that I’ve been fascinated by, as is specifically addressed by wearable technology.’
Other than affirming his passion for wearable technology, Ive remained relatively cryptic about specifically what LoveFrom will focus on.
Despite the major step outside Apple’s umbrella, Ive told the Financial Times that LoveFrom won’t be designing products that are different for the sake of being different but will focus on applying what he learned at Apple in a tangible way.
‘My motivation is to be very aware of what I have learned and take that learning and the approaches that I’ve developed and use those toward trying to make good products,’ Ive said.
‘I’m using the word “products” fabulously ambiguously.’
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