Jony Ive Height, Age, Wife, Children, Family, Biography

Some Lesser Known Facts About Jony Ive

• He was diagnosed with dyslexia when he was in secondary school.

• During his childhood in England, Jony Ive was interested in cars and car design.

• He wanted to become a designer because he loved cars as a teenager.
  

  Jony Ive during his high school days

• In 1987, while attending secondary school at Walton High School in Stafford, he met his future wife, writer Heather Pegg.

• After completing his school education, he began searching for car design courses in London, but did not like them because students there made loud car noises while drawing these designs.

• He then studied at Newcastle Polytechnic, learning about simple and useful design inspired by the Bauhaus style.

• There, he used to drive a Fiat 500.

• During his college days, some of his designs, like a phone and a hearing aid, were exhibited at the Design Museum in London.

• He won the RSA Student Design Award in 1988 and 1989 for his college designs. The award gave him some money and travel expenses for a trip to the United States.

• He went to San Francisco and met noted designers such as Robert Brunner, who later worked with Apple.

• After six weeks, he came back to England and started an internship at the Roberts Weaver Group, the company also supported his studies. He impressed the company executives with how carefully and seriously he worked.

• He worked at Roberts Weaver Group for a year.

• He then joined a design company called Tangerine in London, where he worked on many types of products such as microwaves, toilets, drills, and toothbrushes for companies such as LG and Ideal Standard.

• He felt upset when Ideal Standard rejected his toilet, bidet, and sink designs. The company said that the designs were too expensive and looked too modern.

• Between 1990 and 1992, Robert Brunner, a noted American designer, tried to convince Ive to join Apple. During this time, Apple became a client of Tangerine, Ive’s former employer.

• Ive worked on ‘Project Juggernaut,’ which focused on the future of portable computers and led to the PowerBook.

• In September 1992, Ive started working full-time at Apple and moved from the UK to the US.
  

  Jony Ive while demonstrating Apple’s hardware

• His first big assignment was to design the second version of the Newton and the MessagePad 110.

• In the early 1990s, Apple did not focus much on design, and Ive thought of quitting the job.

• When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he invited Ive to help him change the company’s direction.

• Jon Rubinstein, Ive’s manager, convinced him to stay by saying that Apple was about to ‘make history’ under Jobs.
  

  Jony Ive in a conversation with Steve Jobs

• In 1997, Ive was appointed as the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple.

• After that, he led a team at Apple that created many of its key hardware products.

• His first major project in this role was the iMac in 1998, which was known for its clear plastic cover.

• The success of the iMac led to the development of future products such as the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.
  

  Jony Ive posing with iMac desktops

• In the early 2000s, Ive got his own private design office at Apple. Only a small trusted team and top executives were allowed inside, as it held all new design ideas and prototypes. His children were also not allowed into the design office.

• In 2007, Ive was the first person to make a public phone call with Steve Jobs with the iPhone.

• His move to make devices thinner invented fragile designs such as the butterfly keyboard and the removal of ports from MacBooks.

• Ive was influenced by Dieter Rams, who was the chief designer at Braun from 1961 to 1995.

• Rams believed in designing simple and useful products and followed his ten principles of good design.

• In a 2009 documentary film, Dieter Rams said that Apple was one of the few companies that followed these principles.

• In a 2011 book, Ive wrote an essay about Rams titled Dieter Rams: As Little Design as Possible.
  

  A chart showing Dieter Rams’ ten principles of good design

• In 2011, Ive received $30 million in salary and a $25 million stock bonus.

• After that, Apple stopped sharing details about Ive’s pay. He became the only executive with such privacy.

• Ive paid tribute to Steve Jobs at both Apple’s memorial and the family service in 2011.
  

  Jony Ive during a tribute speech to Steve Jobs at Apple’s Memorial

• By 2012, his net worth was estimated at £80 million.

• During the same year, Ive started working on the Apple Watch, which was launched in April 2015 and became the best-selling wearable.

• On 29 October 2012, Apple announced that Ive would lead Human Interface (HI) design along with Industrial Design.

• In 2012, he and his wife bought their San Francisco home for $17 million. Ive used to travel 1.5 hours daily from San Francisco to Apple’s office in Cupertino.

• In 2013, after the release of iOS 7, he was promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Design.

• After that, Ive said in the media that he hoped his best work was still ahead. He liked being called a maker of products, not just a designer.

• In 2014, Ive said that he and Steve Jobs were similar in seeing and questioning things. Their offices at Apple’s Cupertino Headquarters were connected by a covered walkway.

• In 2014, he said in the media that if his work quality dropped, he would rather design things for himself and his friends.

• On 26 May 2015, he became Apple’s Chief Design Officer. He joined top executives like CEO Tim Cook and CFO Luca Maestri.
  

  Jony Ive with Tim Cook while promoting one of their designs

• On 8 December 2017, Apple announced that Ive would take full control of product design.

• On 1 July 2017, he began working as the Chancellor of the Royal College of Art (RCA), replacing Sir James Dyson.

• In 2018, Ive shared in a media conference that the goal was to make technology even more personal and easier to use, as people were already carrying powerful devices in their pockets.

• On 27 June 2019, Apple revealed that Ive would leave the company after 27 years.

• In June 2019, Ive, along with designer Marc Newson, started his own design company called LoveFrom, a private firm and began a simple website in October 2021.
  

  Jony Ive with Marc Newson

• After that, Apple became one of LoveFrom’s first clients. Their partnership ended in July 2022.

• LoveFrom then started working with brands like Ferrari and Airbnb.

• Reportedly, Ive and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky are good friends.
  

  Jony Ive with Brian Chesky

• In 2023, LoveFrom started a scholarship to help new designers.

• The scholarship pays full tuition for one student each at California College of the Arts and Rhode Island School of Design, and for two students at the Royal College of Art every year.

• In 2023, Ive redesigned the Red Nose for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day, a charity fundraiser.
  

  A picture of the Red Nose advertisement for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day (2023)

• The same year, he designed the emblem for King Charles III’s coronation through the Terra Carta Design Lab. The emblem included a rose, thistle, daffodil, and shamrock to represent the four parts of the UK.

• Ive said that the emblem was inspired by King Charles’s love for nature and hopes to symbolise the positivity of spring.
  

  A picture of the coronation emblem for King Charles III (2023)

• In September 2024, LoveFrom started a new clothing line with fashion brand Moncler. The company also revealed a logo featuring a bear mascot named Montgomery.
  

  LoveFrom’s logo featuring a bear mascot named Montgomery

• In 2024, Ive started an AI company named ‘io’ with Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey, and Tang Tan.

• In March 2025, he appeared as a guest on the show Desert Island Discs, which aired on BBC Radio 4.
  

  Jony Ive on the poster of the radio show Desert Island Discs

• In May 2025, OpenAI announced that it would acquire Ive’s ‘io’ in a $6.5 billion deal.

• As part of the deal, OpenAI would become a customer of LoveFrom, and Ive’s team will lead design work for OpenAI. LoveFrom would work independently and keep working with other clients.

• Ive is known for his simple and understated style. His signature look includes a shaved head, trimmed beard, and plain clothes.

• He started this look in 2001 when he became Apple’s vice president of industrial design.

• His look has inspired various Halloween costumes, fashion trends, and grooming styles.

• He often wears painter’s pants, linen shirts, canvas pants, and Clarks Wallabees.

• Ive’s voice with an Essex accent has been used in Apple’s videos since 1994.

• Ive is inspired by the Bauhaus design style, which focused on the idea that ‘form follows function’ and ‘less is more.’ His work at Apple is also influenced by Audi, a luxury car company, which used this design style in the 1980s.

• He is often invited as a guest at various car shows and events like the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

• Ive has designed special products for charity, such as a unique Leica camera that was sold for a record price at an auction.

• He also designed a rare Jaeger-LeCoultre sports watch for an HIV/AIDS charity.

• He, along with designer Marc Newson, raised $13 million for Bono’s Product Red charity during an auction.

• Steve Jobs referred to Jony Ive as his spiritual partner during his lifetime.

• He has been featured on the cover of many noted magazines and tabloids.
  

  Jony Ive on the cover of a magazine