AppleInsider Staff
In an in-depth interview with Charlie Rose, Apple's Ive and design superstar Newson riff on what makes good design so challenging, and why they chose the items up for bid in the pair's (RED) charity auction.
The Charlie Rose Show interview, which airs tonight, digs deep into Apple SVP of Design Jony Ive and designer Marc Newson's thoughts about the upcoming charity auction. The full interview is now online.
As with a teaser made for the Sotheby's auction, Ive and Newson explained the beauty of simplicity. They both agree that great design melts away, making the designers of the best pieces difficult to distinguish.
The collection Ive and Newson curated are all things they would want to bid on, Ive said. Each item is a tool of some kind, not an end in itself, which to Ive is the highest form of design.
Earlier this week, AppleInsider was able to take a "hands-off" look at the collection.
While most of the 44 pieces are donated, Ive and Newson collaborated on a few of their own designs, including an aluminum desk, a Leica digital camera and Apple's new Mac Pro. Other items have been customized with flourishes of red, such as a Range Rover, a window from the Space Shuttle sitting in a bespoke stand, and an Hermes saddle, among others.
Bidding for "Jony and Marc's (RED) Auction" begins on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Sotheby's New York. Proceeds will go to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Christine McKee
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48 Comments
I've got a whole grand set aside to buy that Mac Pro... I've got that sucker sewed up!
That was a great interview, watched it twice. The interviewer started off trying to put trite words in to their mouths, to create a story he knew the audience would love, but when they started really talking, offering their real opinions, he had the experience/expertise to back off and just let them talk.
I really like the culture of quality they were talking about, about taking care in your work. It's something you notice when you go to poor foreign countries, namely, everything is junk. The objects are junk. And it's easy to just dismiss it, and say things are junk because the people are poor, and that's all they can afford. But maybe it's not poverty causing junk, maybe it's poverty and junk both being caused by something earlier, a culture of lack of care and attention to detail.
a window from the Space Shuttle sitting in a bespoke stand
I know Macrumors is a UK site, but I didn't realize that about AI.
I would bet that 99.9% of Americans have no idea what bespoke means in this situation. I've been living in Europe (but not the UK) for 10 years and never heard the term until a few months ago (from a Brit). "Custom made" can be understood by anyone who speaks English...why not use that?
[quote name="GregInPrague" url="/t/160865/apples-jony-ive-and-industrial-designer-marc-newson-go-in-depth-on-red-auction-pieces#post_2439195"] I know Macrumors is a UK site, but I didn't realize that about AI. I would bet that 99.9% of Americans have no idea what bespoke means in this situation. I've been living in Europe (but not the UK) for 10 years and never heard the term until a few months ago (from a Brit). "Custom made" can be understood by anyone who speaks English...why not use that? [/quote] "Bespoke" can be understood by anyone, too, by simply using a dictionary. Expanding one's vocabulary is a worthwhile practice. Condescending one's fellows is not.
I don't find Charlie Rose to be a particularly good interviewer. His questions never seem to start a discussion and aren't inviting conversation. They are more harassing for definitive answers to each bullet point. The conversation just seems to stop dead after each one is done. I also feel like I'm watching the same interview with Ive over and over in different settings. There are usually at least some small unique elements though. The part that stood out for me was his explanation of obsessing over the objects, which some people don't like and might suggest is materialistic. It starts around 16:50 (the timer might default to show time left so click to see time watched): 'You can argue that someone will never see how something is finished on the inside but I think that part of the human condition is that we sense care. Sometimes it's easier to realise you sense carelessness and so much of our manufactured environment testifies to a complete lack of care. That's not about your attitude towards an object, it's about your attitude to each other.' I found that with mobile phones years ago. There were so many manufacturers fighting for their place in the market but the products were all horrible to use. Not one phone design gave the instant satisfaction you got from using an iPhone and it was clear they didn't feel it was important enough to obsess over the user experience to provide a great service to people. Phone companies are some of the worst for this. While the obsession is over objects, they are tools in the service of people. [quote name="ascii"]I really like the culture of quality they were talking about, about taking care in your work. It's something you notice when you go to poor foreign countries, namely, everything is junk. The objects are junk. And it's easy to just dismiss it, and say things are junk because the people are poor, and that's all they can afford. But maybe it's not poverty causing junk, maybe it's poverty and junk both being caused by something earlier, a culture of lack of care and attention to detail.[/quote] Poor foreign countries like China where Apple products are made? There are poor quality manufacturing outfits in every country, not just 'foreign' ones. Taking care takes time and when the priority is survival, there will be compromises. Look at HTC for example. They have clearly put in a lot more effort to design nice products than Samsung and yet Samsung makes 35x their revenue. So it doesn't always pay to put in the effort unfortunately. Lower earning companies can go bankrupt if their efforts aren't rewarded.