Apple’s senior vice president of design Jonathan Ive, the gentleman behind the iMac, iPod, iPhone, Macbooks, and iPad, tried his hand at custom building a champagne cooler, a Leica camera, a Range Rover, a lamp, and a pair of solid rose gold Apple ear phones.
All for a good cause. The items will be auctioned off at Sotheby’s on November 23, and the proceeds will go to Red, the charity organization founded by music icon Bono in 2006.
Mr. Ive collaborated with another design guru, the London-based Marc Newson. For the past year and a half, Mr. Ive and Mr. Newson have been curating a collection of pieces for the auction, says Red CEO Deborah Dugan. The duo curated the items, personally customized them, and built two single edition items, created just for the auction.
Jony Ive: What we create for each other is not only a comment on our culture, but of course in many ways, defines it.
The collection includes objects from disciplines as diverse as space travel and lighting design to contemporary art, and rare automobiles. Leading the auction are two items designed in their entirety by the duo – a Leica Digital Rangefinder Camera, and an aluminum desk produced by Neal Fey Studios. Joining these items are a Steinway&Sons Parlor Grand Piano and a 2012 Range Rover, a Hermès Cavale saddle in red leather with custom stitching, a pair of Apple ear pods in solid rose gold, a Russian cosmonaut suit, and a pair of Dom Perignon Œnothèque 1996 Magnum in custom red cooler, among other things.
[Images courtesy: Sotheby’s]