Skip to main content

Jony Ive’s latest design masterpiece? A comedy nose!

Jony Ive's red nose.
Comic Relief

Jony Ive, the designer of iconic Apple products such as the iPod music player, the Mac, the Apple Watch, and, of course, the iPhone, has unveiled his latest work: a red nose made of paper.

But this, it has to be said, is no ordinary red nose. This is “the most perfect rose in history,” and is made “to fit neatly on your nose.”

Related Videos

It’s also the most recognizable symbol of the U.K’s Comic Relief charity, the organization behind the massive Red Nose Day fundraising event that takes place every March and has been broadcast by the BBC since 1988. Profits from sales of the nose, along with other donations, go to a range of causes.

Comic Relief’s red nose used to be made of plastic, then in 2020 it produced its first plastic-free red nose. Ive’s nose, so to speak, is made from 95% plant-based materials.

As the video below shows, the newly designed red schnoz starts as a tiny flat crescent and springs into a honeycomb-paper sphere. It also comes with its own, very small, carry case.

Red Nose Day 2023 | Comic Relief

“We’ve grown up with Comic Relief and are proud to support their remarkable work,” Jony Ive said on Comic Relief’s website. “This new and seemingly simple red nose has been a fabulously complex little object to design and make and has involved our entire team. We hope it brings a little moment of joy to everyone who wears one.”

Since Red Nose Day’s launch in 35 years ago, Comic Relief has raised more than 1 billion British pounds (about $1.2 billion) for charitable causes, with tens of millions of pounds coming from sales of red noses. Speaking of which, you can get your Jony Ive-designed red nose here.

Ive left Apple after 27 hugely successful years at the company. Soon after his departure, he set up a design firm called LoveFrom with his friend and long-time collaborator Marc Newson. LoveFrom worked with Apple on various projects until July 2022. In recent years, the British designer has worked with Ferrari, Airbnb, and environmental initiative Terra Carta. Ive also served a number of years as chancellor of the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London.

Following his red nose triumph, the ace designer is sure to be sniffing out his next big project.

Editors' Recommendations

Jony Ive discusses why Apple finally made a stylus and named it Pencil
apple ipad pro accessories pencil keyboard 2

In the early years of emerging smartphone technology, it wasn't time to bring out the stylus. Or at least, that's what Apple's CEO Steve Jobs and his famed designer Jony Ive seemed to think.

In an interview with Wallpaper Magazine's editor-in-chief, Ive said that initially, it was important for the company to focus on improving and building a UI (User Interface) based on multi-touch with fingers. But with the launch of the $100 Apple Pencil in September, we're ready to be more "dexterous."

Read more
Awesome Jony Ive soundboard lets you create soothing sentences using ‘aluminium’
awesome jony ive soundboard lets you create soothing sentences using aluminium 2

While Jony Ive is rarely seen on stage at Apple events, his videos with him waxing lyrical about the company's latest phone, tablet or other product have become famous for showcasing his distinctive dulcet tones and cool, laid-back delivery.

We watch transfixed, waiting to hear which obscure adjectives he's carefully selected as he searches for a way to describe the company's newest device in a manner that cleverly sets it apart from earlier iterations.

Read more
Apple promotes Jony Ive to newly created ‘chief design officer’ position
jony ive becomes apple chief design officer

Apple's design guru has just scored a promotion. Jony Ive, the man responsible for the look and feel of many of the company's most successful products, is now the tech giant's chief design officer (CDO) – a newly created position. The news was revealed in a wide-ranging interview with Ive published in Monday's UK Telegraph.

Other promotions resulting from Ive's move up the ladder include those of Richard Howarth, who was heavily involved with the iPhone's design from the start and becomes Apple's head of industrial design, and Alan Dye, who had a big say in the look of iOS 7, as well as the Apple Watch's OS, and becomes the company's new head of interface.

Read more