The men begin the iPhone and Qantas’ business class seats will help shape the future of Ferrari.
The Italian supercar brand has announced a partnership with design firm, LoveFrom, which is headed by ex-Apple creative boss, Sir Jony Ive, and Australian Marc Newson. Details are light on what the new partnership will actually mean for the car brand – it’s unclear if LoveForm will have influence on vehicle design or peripherals and merchandise – but it will integrate the two organisations more closely.
The most likely area LoveForm could help Ferrari is user interfaces, such as its infotainment system as well as integrating smartphones and other devices into future models. Ive was instrumental in designing the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad during his more than 20 years at the technology giant. Newson joined Apple in 2014, after his successful partnership with Qantas, and was involved in the development of the Apple Watch.
Both Ive and Newson were at Apple during the brand’s exploration of an electric car, known as Project Titan, so bring some automotive exprience. The pair are also known Ferrari collectors, and the Australian competes in the annual Mille Miglia event in one of his classic cars.
Ferrari’s parent company, Exor, has invited Ive to join its ‘Partner Council’, an annual forum that attracts a range of executives from across several sectors to “explore potential business opportunities.”
John Elkann, Ferrari chairman and CEO of Exor, said the new deal will be important to the car maker’s evolution in the next decade.
“In building great companies, we also believe in building great partnerships,” Elkann explained. “Soon after LoveFrom was founded we began to talk with Jony and Marc about opportunities to combine their world-renowned creativity with ours, in complementary and incremental ways. Ferrari represents a first, exciting chance to do great things together as we build our future.”
Ive and Newson were understandably happy to be joining forces with another global powerhouse brand.
“We have been friends with John for many years and are great admirers of his insight and vision,” the design duo said in a joint statement. “We are thrilled to be embarking on such an important, long term collaboration with Ferrari and more broadly Exor. As Ferrari owners and collectors, we could not be more excited about collaborating with this extraordinary company and in particular with the design team expertly led by Flavio Manzoni. We see some uniquely exciting opportunities working together which we believe will yield important and valuable work.”
Discussion about this post