Early Life
Jonathan Ive was born in Chingford, London. His father was a silversmith who taught at the local college, "He's a fantastic craftsman, his Christmas gift to me would be one day of his time in his college workshop, during the Christmas break when no one else was there, helping me make whatever I dreamed up."
Ive attended the Chingford Foundation School then Walton High School in Stafford, before studying industrial design at Northumbria University (Newcastle Polytechnic at the time). Once enrolled in Walton, it became clear that he attained many technical and drawing skills through his father.
Ive was interested in "drawing and making stuff" since he was about 14. Design was always in his mind, but he was unsure about exactly what, since his interests were very broad – from furniture and jewellery to boats and cars. However, after meeting with various design experts he was drawn to product design.
Discovering the Apple Mac during his later college years was a turning point for him. In particular, he saw the Apple user experience was significant because he felt it was a departure from the lack of creativity found in computer design at that time.
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