Jony Ive reveals his 12 favorite design tools
As part of being guest editor on a UK magazine, ex-Apple design chief Jony Ive has detailed the dozen tools he finds indispensable, from a vintage leather pencil case, to $5,645 record player tonearm.
Jony Ive
Jony Ive is the guest editor on a special issue of "How to Spend It" magazine, part of the UK's Financial Times. Describing it as an "issue about making," Ive talks with designers and craftspeople, as well as detailing his own favorite tools.
"Perhaps predictably," he writes in the full magazine, "this has become rather a personal issue of 'How to Spend It' as I have gathered together many of the people, objects, and places that I love."
Some of those design objects and tools are personal ones Ive has presumably used for many years. Where the tools are available to buy now, the magazine includes typical current prices.
It's not clear whether Ive has particularly sorted them into any order. The magazine just says that he has selected items "for making, for marking, for measuring, and carrying with you every day."
Top: Linn titanium Ekos SE tonearm, $5,645 (Source: Basil Audio.) Bottom: leather In the Pocket measuring tape, $530 (source: Hermes)
Ive doesn't say anything at all about any of these tools. But in a separate article in the magazine, he does talk about how the tools we use are more than mere implements for getting a job done.
"There's a beauty and a joy in the machines and tools," he says. "They are no longer solely a means to an end. I think there's an inherent elegance in an effective tool that normally results in a curious beauty."
Ive also laments how "there was a time when we were able and motivated to maintain and look after products." He says that "beyond just buying something, we were caring for it, which is obviously better than recycling."
Separately, Apple has been showing off its iPhone recycling machine, Daisy, and also launched its promised self service repair program.
Read on AppleInsider
Jony Ive
Jony Ive is the guest editor on a special issue of "How to Spend It" magazine, part of the UK's Financial Times. Describing it as an "issue about making," Ive talks with designers and craftspeople, as well as detailing his own favorite tools.
"Perhaps predictably," he writes in the full magazine, "this has become rather a personal issue of 'How to Spend It' as I have gathered together many of the people, objects, and places that I love."
Some of those design objects and tools are personal ones Ive has presumably used for many years. Where the tools are available to buy now, the magazine includes typical current prices.
It's not clear whether Ive has particularly sorted them into any order. The magazine just says that he has selected items "for making, for marking, for measuring, and carrying with you every day."
- Torque wrench, $562 from UK firm Snap-On
- Linn titanium Ekos SE tonearm, $5,645 from Basil Audio
- Color-coded hex L-Key set, from $3.69 from Wiha
- Paper folder from UK's H. Webber
- Hermes leather In the Pocket measuring tape, $530
- Vintage brass folding loupe
- Montegrappa vintage fountain pen
- Graf Von Faber-Castell platinum-plated eraser, $100 from Jackson's Art
- Vintage leather pencil case by visvim
- Mitutoyo 6in universal bevel protractor, $326
- Starrett 440Z-3RL depth gauge micrometer, $355
- Wempe Navigator II ship's clock and weather station, $1,960
Top: Linn titanium Ekos SE tonearm, $5,645 (Source: Basil Audio.) Bottom: leather In the Pocket measuring tape, $530 (source: Hermes)
Ive doesn't say anything at all about any of these tools. But in a separate article in the magazine, he does talk about how the tools we use are more than mere implements for getting a job done.
"There's a beauty and a joy in the machines and tools," he says. "They are no longer solely a means to an end. I think there's an inherent elegance in an effective tool that normally results in a curious beauty."
Ive also laments how "there was a time when we were able and motivated to maintain and look after products." He says that "beyond just buying something, we were caring for it, which is obviously better than recycling."
Separately, Apple has been showing off its iPhone recycling machine, Daisy, and also launched its promised self service repair program.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Jony Ive reveals his 12 favourite tools
That is the tools he loves the design of, and not suggest that he uses a weather station or tone arm in his design process.It was what you'd expect from something called How To Spend It magazine. I mean a $530 pocket measuring tape? Give me a F****** break. The ones I have cost between $5 and $10 and function just as well. This is an article for those who have money coming out of their ***.
And from the typical comments I suspect the authors would stand in front of a Jackson Pollock, scratch their heads, and wonder WTF, I can buy a velvet Elvis for $10 at the local flea market.
There's a difference between art and excess. A Jackson Pollock is to be admired; a $530 tape measure is just plain ridiculous.
And then there's $530 Hermès measuring tapes.
The design appearance ranks at least 3rd in priority, if not lower.