Jonathan ‘Jony’ Ive, Apple’s British-born head of design, has been awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s New Year’s honours.
Ive has been made a Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE), meaning he can now call himself Sir Jonathan Ive.
He was born in Chingford in Essex in 1967 to a silversmith father, who he got his love of design from, the BBC says. He joined Apple in 1992 after he impressed the company while working alongside them at Tangerine, a design company he founded.
He is now senior vice president of industrial design at Apple and was the creative genius behind the design of Apple’s iconic iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad range of products. His minimalist designs have been an integral part of Apple’s renaissance since founder and CEO Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1996.
He was close to Jobs, who died in October last year. According to Walter Isaacson’s biography of the Apple boss, Jobs called Ive his "spiritual partner", although the latter was apparently frustrated that Jobs would often take credit for products that came from the design team.
According to the BBC, Ive described the honour as "absolutely thrilling" and added that he was, "both humbled and sincerely grateful. I am keenly aware that I benefit from a wonderful tradition in the UK of designing and making."
