Jony Ive has been largely quiet since his departure from Apple was first confirmed back in June. But now Ive has resurfaced — through a charitable contribution to the Daily Mail newspaper’s orchard-planting campaign.
Ive, who was instrumental in placing trees into Apple Stores, has donated 100,000 British pounds ($131,000) to the paper’s Be A Tree Angel campaign. Ive’s contribution will enable 1,000 orchards to be planted in 1,000 schools across the U.K.
According to Jony Ive, trees and orchards are “profoundly good for learning and creating.”
Ive said that, “I love trees and over the years have climbed them, eaten and fallen from them, and planted as many as I can. I love sitting in their shade. One of the ideas that was fundamental to Apple Park’s design was creating acres of parkland and orchards. Being able to contribute to a project so close to my heart is fabulous.”
Jony Ive: Orchards and beyond
Along with Apple Park and his funding of orchards, Jony Ive’s love of nature has taken other forms. Ive famously modeled his design for the iMac G4 after a sunflower.
Several years ago, Ive was commissioned to design the Christmas tree at London’s famous Claridge’s hotel with BFF Marc Newson. The pair “created” a plain tree with no decorations, set on a white background. “There are few things more pure and beautiful than nature, so that was our starting point, layering various iterations of organic forms with technology,” Ive and Newson said at the time.
Heck, the guy made his name working at Apple — a company whose name may have been coined by Steve Jobs after working in an orchard. As a senior Apple exec, he likely had something to do with Apple embracing environmentalism. The company has made changes such as including more recycled materials.
Since leaving Apple, Ive has founded a new design firm called LoveFrom. He officially disappeared from Apple’s leadership web page back in November.
Source: Daily Mail
