Sir Jony Ive, the Briton who over two decades helped turn Apple into the world’s most valuable company, is leaving to set up his own venture.
His new venture is called LoveFrom, and it will have Apple as its first client. His role with Apple has shifted slightly over the last few years, although as recently as 2017 Apple stated that his focus remained “purely on design.”
Sir Jonathan said in a statement: “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.”
Little is known about LoveFrom, but it will be based in California and there are reports one area of focus will be wearable technology. News of his departure broke in an exclusive interview in the Financial Times.
In the article Sir Jonathan said Marc Newson, a friend and collaborator at Apple, would also join the new firm. There would also be “a collection of creatives” spanning several different disciplines beyond design, he said.
He became head of Apple’s design studio in 1996, when the company was in poor financial health and cutting jobs. The turnaround began with Sir Jonathan’s iMac in 1998, and the iPod in 2001. Other landmarks of industrial design followed, including:
2004 – iPod Mini
2007 – iPhone
2008 – MacBook Air
2010 – iPad
2015 – Apple Watch
2016 – AirPods
Apple said on Thursday the roles would again be split, with design team leaders Evans Hankey taking over as vice president of industrial design and Alan Dye becoming vice president of human interface design.
