Apple chief design officer Jony Ive (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook on September 12, 2018.
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Apple's partnership with famed design chief, Jony Ive, is over after three years.
Ive launched his own company in 2019, with an agreement for Apple to be a primary client.
Here's all you need to know about Jony Ive and his lasting, 27-year legacy at Apple.
Jony Ive, Apple's longtime design chief, is officially severing ties with the company.
Ive left Apple in mid-2019 to launch his own independent design company, LoveFrom, and signed a $100 million multi-year partnership with his former employer. But just three years later, both he and Apple have decided not to renew their contract, sources told The New York Times this week, in part so Ive could have more freedom with the clients he works with — whether they're Apple's competitors or not.
Ive worked at Apple for 27 years. In that time, he received countless awards and accolades for his ingenuity and commitment to Apple's minimalist design aesthetic.
The knighted London native is frequently spotted at clubs and lives in San Francisco, not terribly far from Apple's headquarters. Ive's success at Apple has made him a household name and catapulted him into pop culture discourse.
Here's what you need to know about Jony Ive, the famed Apple designer:
Jonathan Paul Ive was born on Feb. 27, 1967, in Chingford, England, a suburb of London. His father was a silversmith, and his mother was a psychotherapist.
His first design for Apple was the second-generation Newton MessagePad. Ive's favorite part was the flip cover, which foreshadowed the popularity of flip cellphones.
Photos courtesy of Portfolio/Penguin, publisher of JONY IVE, The Genius Behind Apple's Greatest Products
Ive went on to lead the design on Apple's biggest products, including the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad.Steve Jobs holds the new iPhone at the Apple store in central London, on September 18, 2007.
REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico
Ive maintained creative oversight over the design of Apple's products and worked with CEO Tim Cook to launch new products like the Apple Watch.
In 2012 he bought this 4-bedroom house in Pacific Heights for $17 million. That part of the neighborhood is called "Billionaire's Row," and for good reason.
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It was designed by Willis Polk, a renowned San Francisco architect who designed the city's Palace of Fine Arts.
After Steve Jobs died, Ive asked CEO Tim Cook for his own Gulfstream jet. Apple's board rejected the request, so Ive bought Jobs' former plane instead.
In May 2012, Ive was knighted in Buckingham Palace by Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth II's only daughter. Ive said the experience was "absolutely thrilling."
In 2014, Ive was spotted at Apple headquarters with LA Lakers star Kobe Bryant. "I went up to Apple to spend the day there, talking with Jony (Ive) and picking his brain," Bryant said.
Ive regained direct control of Apple's design team in 2017.
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Design team leads Evans Hankey, vice president of industrial design, and Alan Dye, vice president of human interface design, began reporting to Ive again.
Ive revealed he would be leaving Apple to launch his own independent design company called LoveFrom. Apple is the design firm's first client, and Ive told the Financial Times he hopes to stay "very involved" in Apple's designs for "many, many years to come."Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive at the New Yorker TechFest conference.
But in July 2022, that agreement came to an end when Ive and Apple decided not to renew their contract, sources told The New York Times. Their 30-year partnership is over.Jony Ive and Tim Cook.
