Apple designer Ive's custom charity desk revealed in new pics

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in General Discussion edited January 2014
Images emerged on Friday of a custom aluminum desk co-designed by Apple's Jony Ive for Bono's Product(RED) charity auction, showing that Ive's minimalist aesthetic carries through even in furniture design.



The new images (via Moco Loco) of the one-of-a-kind (RED) Desk show that it is machined from solid aluminum. The piece was fabricated by Neal Fay Studio, a renowned group of aluminum specialists. Ive designed it along with collaborator Marc Newson, with whom he also designed a one-of-a-kind Leica camera.



In a break from the smooth facades that typify other Ive creations, the (RED) Desk features a mosaic pattern on its surface, with a pattern of angular segments of different shades breaking up the otherwise clinical look of the piece. One bit of text on the desk signifies its uniqueness, reading "Designed by Jony Ive & Marc Newson for (RED) 2013 edition 01/01."



The (RED) Desk will go on auction at Sotheby's in New York on November 23 alongside the Leica and a set of gold EarPods. In a recent interview, Ive said he expects that the Leica will fetch roughly $6 million at auction. Also on auction will be a customized grand piano and a 2012 Range Rover, both bearing Ive and Newson's touch.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 77
    WwOooOOoOW
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  • Reply 2 of 77
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member

    I think Ive was the primary designer on the Lecua camera and Marc Newson on this desk.  You can certainly see Newson's design influences in this desk.

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  • Reply 3 of 77

    To me it feels evident that the desk is Jony’s work and the mosaic is Newson’s.

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  • Reply 4 of 77
    Aloominiyum
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  • Reply 5 of 77
    malaxmalax Posts: 1,598member

    I'd buy the plastic version for $100 less.

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  • Reply 6 of 77
    "Machined from a solid block of aluminum". Are they saying it's machined from one piece of aluminum? Seems like the legs would have had to be welded on. Any materials guys monitoring this thread?
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  • Reply 7 of 77
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jusephe View Post



    WwOooOOoOW

    Thinking the same thing. Please tell me it didn't take them thousands of man hours to build that.

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  • Reply 8 of 77

    Nice looking, but I would expect it to be a source of a gazillion static electricity shocks on dry winter days....

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  • Reply 9 of 77
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    Whatever.
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  • Reply 10 of 77
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    "Machined from a solid block of aluminum". Are they saying it's machined from one piece of aluminum? Seems like the legs would have had to be welded on. Any materials guys monitoring this thread?

    I wondered the same thing.

    It's possible that it was machined from a single large block of aluminum, though. It would be very expensive, but not as much as you might think - and for a one off charity piece like this, the extra cost wouldn't matter much. Remember that it's not that hard to find V8 engine blocks machined from single blocks of aluminum. This is larger, but not that much larger.

    Obviously, if you were planning to mass produce them, machining from a single block of aluminum would be silly.
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  • Reply 11 of 77
    takeotakeo Posts: 447member

    Maybe if he'd spent as much time on iOS 7 as he did on cameras and tables it wouldn't be such an unmitigated user interface disaster.

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  • Reply 12 of 77
    Shouldn't Jony be too busy to be doing stuff like this?
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  • Reply 13 of 77
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,657member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Takeo View Post

     

    Maybe if he'd spent as much time on iOS 7 as he did on cameras and tables it wouldn't be such an unmitigated user interface disaster.


    There are aspects of iOS7 that I don't like (that I've already written about) and it definitely has some flaws, but how is it an "unmitigated user interface disaster"?   

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  • Reply 14 of 77
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    takeo wrote: »
    Maybe if he'd spent as much time on iOS 7 as he did on cameras and tables it wouldn't be such an unmitigated user interface disaster.

    Shouldn't Jony be too busy to be doing stuff like this?

    You all stole from my my post 2 days ago where I got hissed , booed and thumbs downed! :lol:
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  • Reply 15 of 77
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member

    2 legs? I thought Jony liked minimalism :)

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  • Reply 16 of 77
    pazuzupazuzu Posts: 1,728member
    zoetmb wrote: »
    There are aspects of iOS7 that I don't like (that I've already written about) and it definitely has some flaws, but how is it an "unmitigated user interface disaster"?   

    Maybe he means this?
    http://www.examiner.com/article/iphone-5s-ios-7-causes-nausea-and-headaches-users-complain-of-illness
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  • Reply 17 of 77
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member

    Ive as Newson worked on this charity auction over 18 months.  I think he can work on more than one thing at a time.  Or maybe he did this stuff on nights and weekends.  Some of these comments remind me of the "innovate, don't litigate" that pop up on every patent thread.  As if Apple engineers spend their time dealing with patent lawsuits.  

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  • Reply 18 of 77
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Takeo View Post

     

    Maybe if he'd spent as much time on iOS 7 as he did on cameras and tables it wouldn't be such an unmitigated user interface disaster.


    Hi Scott.  Found a job yet?

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  • Reply 19 of 77
    "Machined from a solid block of aluminum". Are they saying it's machined from one piece of aluminum? Seems like the legs would have had to be welded on. Any materials guys monitoring this thread?

    No. You have to assemble it yourself: it comes in 64 bits. A bit bit gimmicky ;)
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  • Reply 20 of 77
    Cast it to the rough shape and then machine off the excess. Not that tricky really.
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