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Jonathan Ive was born and raised in Staffodshire. He became interested in drawing and art from a the young age of 14, as he inherited these skills from his father. His father was a lecture and silversmith. Ive studied industrial design at Newcastle Polytechnic, which is now known as Northumbria University. Ive joined a London startup design agency called Tangerine, he designed a diverse array of products, such as microwave ovens and toothbrushes. However, his frustration with the position reached a turning point after he designed a toilet, bidet and sink for client , and the company's boss rejected Ive's work, stating that the products were too costly and looked too modern

In 1998, Apple launched the iMac, the computer that helped turn around the then struggling company. Designed by Ive, its success heralded his arrival as a design guru. Ive's design used new materials, and made new boundaries by removing all legacy connections, and instead only using USB. The Bondi Blue iMac was a completely new idea and made people realise that person computers could be an emotional and exciting experience. From this many more models developed, and eventually evolved into the iMacs we have today.

The huge success of Apple products over the last 17 years has regularly been attributed in part to their incredibly iconic designs. But were Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and Jonathan Ive, the company’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, inspired by products designed by the past German consumer goods manufacturer Braun in the 1950s and 1960s? The original iPod from 2001, for instance, has similarities with the Braun T3 pocket radio from 1958. Other products that suggest a Braun influence include the PowerMac G5, the 2007 iMac and even the iPhone's calculator app from 2007.

Ives has long acknowledged the influence on his work of Dieter Rams, who was Braun’s head designer for nearly 30 years. In 2011, Ive wrote the forward for Dieter Rams' book 'As Little Design As Possible'.

'What Dieter Rams and his team at Braun did was to produce hundreds of wonderfully conceived and designed objects: products that were beautifully made in high volumes and that were broadly accessible', he wrote.

For his part, Rams is understood to regard Apple products - and Ive's kind words - as a compliment

He holds over 5,000 patents and has been recognized with numerous design awards, including the Design Museum London’s first Designer of the Year in 2003, the Design and Art Direction (D&AD) President’s Award in 2005 and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum’s Product Design Award in 2007. In 2012, D&AD named Jony and his team the Best Design Studio of the past 50 years. Their work is featured in the permanent collections of museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Pompidou in Paris.