Jony Ive talks about Steve Jobs, his design team and the art of ‘making’ in Times interview

Times reporter John Arlidge recently sat down with Jony Ive at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. In a privileged conversation, Arlidge talked with Apple’s head of design in one of the first in-depth interviews granted by the quiet and humble executive. Arlidge talks to Ive about his early influences, his first few years at Apple and his current experience at the Cupertino company. What really shines through in the interview is Ive’s humble personality, his excitement with his work and his love of “making.” “Objects and their manufacture are inseparable. You understand a product if you understand how it’s made,” he says. “I want to know what things are for, how they work, what they can or should be made of, before I even begin to think what they should look like. More and more people do. There is a resurgence of the idea of craft.” “Steve and I spent months and months working on a part of a product that, often, nobody would ever see, nor realize was there,” Ive grins. Apple is notorious for making the insides of its machines look as good as the outside. “It didn’t make any difference functionally. We did it because we cared, because when you realize how well you can make something, falling short, whether seen or not, feels like failure,” said Ive about his work with Steve Jobs. “We’re surrounded by anonymous, poorly made objects. 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. We make and sell a very, very large number of (hopefully) beautiful, well-made things. our success is a victory for purity, integrity — for giving a damn,” Ive comments when talking about customers who care about design over price. You can read the rest of the interview on Time’s website. The article is filled with insight into both Apple and Ive’s personality, so much is wrapped up into the piece that it is well worth the 20 minutes it may take to digest the lengthy interview. Continue reading →

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