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January 1, 2006 / Apple's chief designer, Jonathan Ive, has been awarded the title of CBE, or Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Often billed as “the designer of…” all-and-sundry Apple stuff, Ive is technically the Senior Vice-President of Industrial Design in Cupertino, and as head of the Apple Design Team since 1998 has overseen the development of an astonishing array of iconic products.

“Honour Goes to Apple Gadget Guru” (BBC)

Apple’s chief designer, Jonathan Ive, has been awarded the title of CBE, or Commander of the Order of the British Empire (of which there can be no more than 8,960 according to the OBE wiki). Often billed as “the designer of…” all-and-sundry Apple stuff, Ive is technically the Senior Vice-President of Industrial Design in Cupertino, and as head of the Apple Design Team since 1998 has overseen the development of an astonishing array of iconic products—well, basically all of them since the Reconstruction:

• iMac, 1998
• Harman Kardon iSub, 1999
• Polycarbonate Cinema Display, 1999
• G4 Cube, 2000
• iPod, 2001
• iBook G3 and Titanium PowerBook, 2001
• iMac, 2002
• PowerBook G4, 2003
• iMac G5, 2005
• iPod Shuffle, 2005
• Mac Mini, 2005

In 2003 Ive received the British Council’s Design Musem Designer of the Year award. An interview is available on their web site at the following link (also the source of the linked images above):

“Jonathan Ive, Designer of the Year 2003”

More importantly though, the Queen thought he was worthy of a CBE. I can’t help thinking of Her Majesty standing in hat and gloves, addressing the Commonwealth, white cord dangling from the royal ear…