Legendary Apple designer Jony Ive says that a conversation with Steve Jobs inspired the name of his new company LoveFrom: 'You are expressing your gratitude to humanity'
- On Thursday, Apple chief design officer Jony Ive announced he will depart the company to start LoveFrom, an independent design firm that will have Apple as a client.
- The name LoveFrom stems from a conversation Ive had with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who spoke about making products with love and care.
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Apple's chief design officer Jony Ive announced Thursday that he will leave Apple to start his own design firm LoveFrom, with Apple as its first client.
Having Apple as a client isn't LoveFrom's only tribute to Ive's soon-to-be-former employer. The name LoveFrom is also a reference to a conversation Ive once had with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who was also one of his closest friends.
"There was an employee meeting a number of years ago and Steve [Jobs] was talking ," Ive said in an interview with FT. "He [said] that one of the fundamental motivations was that when you make something with love and with care, even though you probably will never meet . . . the people that you're making it for, and you'll never shake their hand, by making something with care, you are expressing your gratitude to humanity, to the species."
Ive, known for designing legendary products including the iPhone, said that he identified with that motivation, and he was moved by Jobs' perspective. That, he says, is why he called his new company LoveFrom.
Ive plans to recruit Apple designer Marc Newson, his long-time collaborator, for his new firm, he told the FT. Together, Ive says, they will continue the work that they started at Apple.
Read more: Apple's longtime design chief Jony Ive is leaving the company
"Really it is the culmination of what I've learned and intend to continue learning from the last 30 years," Ive told the FT. "It will be a collection of creatives . . . from around the world that come from quite diverse areas of expertise."