The Apple sponsored 2016 Met Gala was held last night and in attendance was Tim Cook, Jony Ive, and Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs. In addition to delivering opening remarks for the event yesterday afternoon and serving as its co-chair, Jony Ive also sat down with fashion news outlet Business of Fashion to discuss the Met Gala’s “Manus x Machina” theme, as well as some more Apple-specific topics.
Apple’s decision to sponsor the 2016 Met Gala came as it was beginning to explore the fashion industry in a broader sense with Apple Watch. Speaking on this decision, Ive explained that even if Apple isn’t truly a fashion company, it is making products that are increasingly personal. The Apple executive noted that talking to people like Andrew Bolton, who is the Head Curator of the Costume Institute in New York, has been hugely informative in Apple’s shift to designing those more personal products.
Ive went on to explain that Apple has always had a “very singular approach” in designing products that people are familiar with:
Speaking on the actual Met Gala exhibit itself, Ive said that there was an overall “calm and serenity and gentleness” to it that highlighted the pieces themselves. Ive likened this to Apple’s philosophy of attempting to design in a way that it is solving problems that people didn’t even know existed. This is similar to a comment Tim Cook made speaking to Jim Cramer yesterday about Apple’s future. “We are going to give you things that you can’t live without that you just don’t know you need today,” Cook said.
Ultimately, Ive said the job of a designer is to solve problems and explore:
Finally, Ive touched on the future of Apple Watch. While he wouldn’t get specific as to what Apple has in store for the product, he compared the advancement of the Watch technology to the advancement of the iPhone and iPod during its first few years of updates.
The Met Gala was attended by celebrities such as The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian, Kanye West, and many more. While the event was not televised or live streamed, a few clips surfaced of Ive’s opening remarks. Those can be seen here.
