Jony Ive is renowned for crafting a meticulous product design aesthetic that shaped the tech cultural zeitgeist during a 27-year career at Apple.
He did his most influential work after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs returned to run the company in 1997, where the two forged a partnership that would hatch a succession of game-changing products like the iPhone in 2007. Ive ultimately left the company in 2019.
Ive’s name was thrust back into the spotlight on Wednesday when ChatGPT maker OpenAI recruited him and his design firm, LoveFrom, to lead a new hardware project.
But OpenAI CEO Sam Altman can only hope this still-blossoming partnership works out as well as the mind-meld between former Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Ive.
Ive became the paintbrush that Jobs used to bring his visions to life. The London-born Ive became the voice of Apple’s effort to blend technological wizardry with sleek elegance. The company’s TV commercials and product announcements were renowned for Ive discussing the intricacies of his designs in British-accented voiceovers spoken in a hushed, almost reverential tone.
After Jobs died in 2011, Ive continued carry the torch for his late boss while still striving to create products that were as aesthetically mesmerizing as they were ground breaking. Ive led design work on the Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.
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Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up an Apple iPhone at the MacWorld Conference in San Francisco, in this Jan. 9, 2007 file photo.. Credit: AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File
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Jony Ive attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. Credit: Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File
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This March 19, 1999 file photo shows Jonathan Ive, left, Apple Computer’s vice president of design, and Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s senior vice president of engineering, posing behind five iMac personal computers at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. Credit: AP Photo/Susan Ragan, file
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Steve Jobs, Founder and acting CEO of Apple Computer Inc., holds up one of the company’s new consumer laptops called “iBook” after his keynote address at the Macworld Expo in New York, Wednesday July 21, 1999. Credit: AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File
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In this Monday, June 3, 2019 file photo, Apple CEO Tim Cook, left, and chief design officer Jonathan Ive look at the Mac Pro in the display room at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif. Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File
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The OpenAI logo is seen on a mobile phone in front of a computer screen which displays output from ChatGPT, March 21, 2023, in Boston. Credit: AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File
When he started LoveFrom, Ive derived the name from something Jobs once said about hailing humanity by “making something with a great deal of care and love.” It’s worked with brands like Airbnb, Ferrari and Moncler and created the coronation emblem for King Charles III.
He also chose to base LoveForm in San Francisco’s historic Jackson Square, located near bars and cafes that were once frequented by Beat Generation luminaries such as “On The Road” author Jack Kerouac and “Howl” author Allen Ginsberg.
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The iconic designs of Jony Ive (2025, May 22)
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