Jony Ive is leaving Apple to form his own design company

Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s chief design officer, is leaving the company after more than two decades in the role to form his own independent design company. The British-born designer will leave the Californian technology company later this year.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, says that Ive’s “role in Apple’s revival cannot be overstated, from 1998’s ground-breaking iMac to the iPhone and the unprecedented ambition of Apple Park”.

Ive is responsible for designing some of Apple’s best-known products: the original iMac in 1998, the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, the iPad in 2010 and the Apple Watch in 2015.

He was also closely involved with Apple Park, which started development in 2004. The 175-acre corporate headquarters was opened to employees in 2017 in Cupertino, California.

New creative business

Ive’s new company, a “creative business” called LoveFrom, will launch fully in 2020. Though little is known about Ive’s latest venture, it will count Apple as one of its primary clients.

“After so many years working closely together, I’m happy that our relationship continues to evolve and I look forward to working with Jony long into the future,” Cook adds.

Ive comments: “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.”

Talking to the Financial Times, Ive said he would continue his work in “health and wellbeing” at LoveFrom.

Health and wellbeing

“There are some areas that are personal natural passions for me,” he said. “The work that we’ve been doing with wearable technology — with technology becoming more personal, there is an inevitability that it becomes worn,” he adds.

“We saw we could use technology to be extraordinarily useful in relation to our health and wellbeing. This area is one that I’ve been fascinated by, as [it] is specifically addressed by wearable technology.”

Evan Hankey, vice president of Industrial Design, and Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, will report to Apple’s chief operating officer, Jeff Williams. No immediate successor has been announced.