Skip to main content

Apple’s former design chief Jony Ive to work with Ferrari

Done with designing iPhones, iMacs, and other big-selling Apple gadgets, Jony Ive, the tech giant’s former design guru, is turning his attention to top-end motors.

Two years after departing the tech giant as its head of design, Ive is embarking on a partnership with Ferrari, Bloomberg reported this week.

Tim Cook & Jonathan Ive.
Jony Ive (left) & Tim Cook (Right) Apple

The “multiyear” collaboration will see Ferrari work with LoveFrom, the creative agency set up by Ive and fellow designer Marc Newson shortly after Ive departed Apple in 2019.

“The first expression of this new partnership will bring together Ferrari’s legendary performance and excellence with LoveFrom’s unrivaled experience and creativity that has defined extraordinary world-changing products,” Ferrari owner Exor said in a statement.

Beyond that, there’s little information on what Ive and Newson will be doing at Ferrari. Taking on an entire vehicle design? Possibly. Focusing on particular car components? Perhaps. Creating accessories for the Ferrari brand? Maybe. All will hopefully be revealed before too long, though a report in the Financial Times this week suggests the pair could be tasked with working on Ferrari’s first all-electric car, which is set to debut four years from now.

Ive has a long-running interest in vehicle design. In a 2014 interview with Time, he revealed that after he left school, he briefly attended a car-design course at London’s Royal College but was quickly put off as “the classes were full of students making vroom! vroom! noises as they drew.” The experience prompted Ive to switch to an industrial design course at a different college, a move that set him on a path that ultimately took him to Apple.

LoveFrom’s involvement with Ferrari comes nearly year after the design firm announced it was partnering with Airbnb. The collaboration was described as “a special collaboration,” though like Ferrari’s announcement, details about the partnership have been scarce.

Editors' Recommendations

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
All of the Apple products that made Jony Ive a living design legend
apple products that made jony ive a living design legend us it news feed

Jony Ive (right) and Apple CEO Tim Cook look over the new Mac Pro Display and computer during Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference on June 3. Brittany Hosea-Small/AFP/Getty Images

Jony Ive, Apple's famed Chief Design Officer and resident design master since 1997, announced Thursday that he is leaving the company to form his own design company, LoveFrom. Apple will be LoveFrom's first client, which makes sense because much of the company's success can be directly traced back to Ive's groundbreaking industrial designs that span a generation. When you think of Apple products -- the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, AirPods, and Apple Watch spring to mind -- the guiding hand and conceptual mastermind behind them is Jonathan Ive alongside his long-term, tight design team.

Read more
Apple lead designer Jony Ive is leaving to start his own company
Apple chief design officer Jony Ive (middle) tests out a product at the 2019 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference.

Apple chief design officer Jony Ive (middle) tests out a product at the 2019 Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Apple's head of design Jony Ive is leaving the company.

Read more
Mercedes-Benz EQG: range, price, release date, and more
Concept image of the larger electric G-Wagon

The G-Class is going electric. We already knew that Mercedes-Benz was working on an electric, small-size G-Wagon, but it looks like the company is also working on a larger G-Class SUV, in the form of the EQG. In fact, Mercedes has gone as far as to show off a concept version of the off-roader.

While there's much we don't know about what will become the production model of the EQG, Mercedes has also shared a lot about it. Curious about whether the Mercedes-Benz EQG could be the EV for you? Here's everything we know so far.
Design
Fear not -- the EQG will retain many of the design aspects of the G-Class that you already know and love but with a modern face-lift. The EQG will keep the boxy design that gives the G-Class a classic look but with some additional modern styling, at least if the concept version is anything to go by.

Read more