Jony Ive and Marc Newson: art, philosophy, and Leica for half a million dollars

At Sotheby's November auction in New York on the world had seen the result of joint work of such geniuses design as Johnny Ive and Marc Newson. Friends and our colleagues teamed up to create and select more than 40 items, the proceeds from the sale of which will go to the needs of (RED) - HIV-infection campaign, organized by the frontman of U2 Bono. In anticipation of this event, a journalist Vanity Fair, Paul Goldberger Meets with designers and learned what philosophy they share in common, and that in the creation of the iPhone and aircraft interiors.

Of course, not all 40 subjects were created Ayvom and Newson together. These two, though, and are long-time friends, live and work on opposite sides of the ocean. Ive worked in the "Temple of minimalism" in Cupertino, and Newson - in his private design studio in London. Still, especially for the auction and the campaign (RED), they joined forces and created in a single instance of a metal table and a Leica camera. Also, visitors will see the auction items, the appearance of which designers have changed - white grand piano a Steinway, which is hidden under the cover of bright red color and copy STERLING SILVER jug Georg Jensen. And most of the items, such as for example Russian cosmonaut suit circa-1990 or sketch stage costume Elvis Presley, were found and selected designers specifically for the auction.

I met Ayvom and Newson at the Mandarin in San Francisco. Both are dressed simply and elegantly as ordinary residents of this sunny city, both love to talk, and of the Contracting phrases to each other and are very different from other "tops corporations" with whom I have to deal with. Ive Friendly pours champagne and begins to explain why he was so excited to work with Newson on a collection for auction. Newson sphere of activity is much more diverse, and increasingly "multi-colored" than the restrained and austere minimalism Quince, but their philosophy is very similar.

"We both - the real fanatics in regard to things that are not visible to the naked eye," - says Ive "It's like doing a back wall of the chest.. Nobody will ever see it, but it can not be done haphazardly. Our creations - a form of communication, they demonstrate our values. "

"I notice that very few around the same perfectionists as we are. Frankly, it is a disease "- adds Newson

Both designers adore everything connected with materials and ready to talk for hours about how the material affects the creation of an object, and creating - the result. Ive - the son of the English jeweler, and Newson grew up in Australia, where he studied jewelry making and sculpture. Both believe that the manual labor - above all else. There is some irony in the fact that Ive - the man who made such a great contribution to the digital technology, disappointed and even angry because of technology have created a huge gap between design and directly manual work. "We live in a time when things are created on the computer screen" - he says - "the people who have graduated from a design college, absolutely can not do anything with their hands! They are not able to work with the material, and in fact until not take material in the hands of - you do not understand a tenth of this work. "

One of the traits that are so different from other Apple devices - is that apparently they are not actually associated with mechanical machines. They look natural and... they want to touch, I want to hold in their hands. Ive not create works of art that could take place in the Museum of minimalism, but real things in real life that you can use in everyday life.

"The problem for many companies producing equipment or other consumer goods, in that they consider the design after a minor addition how engineers complete their work ", - says Ive." The Apple designers did not just wage earners, but full participants in the workflow "

"The most important thing in my job - is to try to do everything in your power and to really care about his creation. It's hard to explain, but I take the iPhone with the same trepidation with which belong to his "brainchild" creators hours or other very high-value goods. And, you know, I am very glad that I create something that is available to many ", - shared Ive.

Newson, of course, belongs to a completely different design class. He did not create anything that would appear in every home. His hand belongs to the interiors of passenger aircraft A380 of the Australian airline Quantas, he was involved in the creation of the concept car Ford, and one of his early works - the chair Lockheed Lounge (a total of 10 copies) was sold at auction in 2009 for 1.6 million dollars. Newson has a much greater freedom for creativity, while Ive forced to submit to Apple's corporate culture at that.

Newson and Ive met in Japan in the late 90's, but none of them can not remember under what circumstances. Since then they have become close friends, despite the fact that they live on different continents. Both love cars and annually along with their families in mid-July visit British Festival of Speed ​​- an exhibition of antique and collector cars in West Essex to admire the unique cars from vintage Porsche racing to bollidov Formula 1.

Frontman of U2, Bono has long been involved in charity work. After the overwhelming success of the auction of works of art in the campaign (RED) in 2008 (when it was raised more than 40 million US dollars), he decided it was time for the design of the auction. Newson and Ive attended not by chance, Bono has long been familiar with both of them and admired them as professionals in their field and how just good people. Both gladly agreed to work together.

However, I agree - it was one thing, but to get started - is quite another. "We had a little disagreement with John at the beginning", - says Newson. The problem was where to start. Both wanted to make a collection of modern and classic at the same time, but at the same time shocking and surprise, and, of course, attractive to customers, after all, is not just an exhibition and auction, where the profit is huge value. As you can see, the task they have set themselves is not easy.

It took one and a half years. A few months took nothing but thoughts and decisions about what to include in the collection. Then for months visits to the factories where they were produced in a single original variations on the theme of classic items such as Steinway grand piano or the red leather seat Hermès. The establishment of such things takes a lot of time, because it is laborious manual work.

Initially, Ive and Newson thought that will create a few things "from scratch", but the time was only enough for two. One of them - Aluminum table, in which the author's handwriting is obvious Quince, as is a maximum of three thin metal plates with narrowed edges, which undoubtedly reminds Mac. The second - a Leica camera, the inside is the same as the other cameras in this model, but outside Ive and Newson made her design much Minimalist, buttons hardly protrude from the body (like buttons most Apple devices) and perfectly fit into the overall discreet camera style. It is both a work of art and a device that can be used. At this point, the camera is estimated to be a fantastic sum - 500-750 thousand dollars. Its construction took more than 9 months, and in the process has been created around a thousand prototypes and five hundred models involved were more than 50 engineers, the total time that was about 2 thousand hours.

We can only guess who will get this unique camera. The very same organizer of the campaign, Bono jokes: "It is unlikely that it will buy a photographer, or a millionaire collector. Ive and Newson so adore her the Leica, which beat all records, competing for the right to it with each other to have "

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