Apple designer Jonathan Ive to be knighted today - Digital Spy

Jonathan Ive, the British man who designed Apple's iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad, is to be knighted today at Buckingham Palace.

Ive, Apple's senior vice president of industrial design, said that he is "both humbled and sincerely grateful" for the "absolutely thrilling honor".

© PA Images / Paul Sakuma/AP

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the 45-year-old said that he was "the product of a very British design education" - at school in Chingford, East London, and at Newcastle Polytechnic, now Northumbria University.

He told the paper that during his education he was made "keenly aware" of the UK's "remarkable tradition" in design and manufacturing.

"It's important to remember that Britain was the first country to industrialise, so I think there's a strong argument to say this is where my profession was founded," he said.

Ive founded design agency Tangerine with three friends after leaving university, managing to attract Apple as a client. The US tech giant was so impressed with his work that it hired him as a permanent employee in 1992.

He took over the Apple design team in 1996, a year before Steve Jobs returned to the firm as chief executive. Together, they helped transform Apple into the biggest technology company in the world.

In his biography of the late Apple co-founder, Walter Isaacson said that Ive was the "spiritual partner" to Jobs, who passed away last year after a long battle with cancer.

© PA Images / Paul Sakuma/AP

© PA Images / Julie Jacobson/AP

The 1993 iMac G3, known as the "Bondi blue", is considered one of Ive's design classics, but it was 2001's launch of the iPod that really skyrocketed Apple's fortunes as a consumer technology brand.

Discussing Apple's approach to designing, Ive told the Telegraph that the firm attempts to "develop products that seem somehow inevitable".

"[Products that] leave you with the sense that that's the only possible solution that makes sense," he said. "Our products are tools and we don't want design to get in the way. We're trying to bring simplicity and clarity, we're trying to order the products."

Despite being revered by the design community and having amassed an estimated fortune of more than £80m over his career, Ive says that he isn't recognized that often.

"People's interest is in the product, not in its authorship," said Ive, who lives in San Francisco with his British wife, Heather and two children.

After he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2005, Ive will be knighted this afternoon by Princess Anne.

Also being honored today is Peter Bazalgette, of Big Brother maker Endemol, for his services to broadcasting.