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)…
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
Cadillac aims to balance its lineup with a small electric SUV
Exterior of the Cadillac Optiq compact electric SUV.

Cadillac will add an entry-level electric SUV to its lineup in 2024.

The Cadillac Optiq is a "luxury compact SUV" slotting below the Lyriq in the brand's EV hierarchy. Photos released with the brief announcement show styling features that tie the Optiq to the larger Lyriq, such as split taillights, but other details won't be released until closer to the Optiq's launch.

Read more
Why your EV’s voltage matters, and what it means for your car’s charging speed
Front three-quarters view of a 2023 Kia EV6 GT in a desert setting.

Electric cars are slowly, but surely becoming commonplace, and they introduce a whole new generation of specifications that are worth caring about. Range is an obvious one -- but there's another metric that has a major impact on the overall experience of owning an electric car: voltage.

You'll often see the voltage of an electric car's battery pack touted in advertising. Hyundai, for instance, is proud of the 800 -volt battery in cars like the EV6 -- that's double the voltage of the 400V battery in the Tesla Model Y.

Read more