Former Apple Design Chief Jony Ive Shares His 12 Favorite Tools of the Trade

Former Apple design chief Jony Ive, who still partners with Apple on products, has revealed his 12 must-have design tools for making, marking, measuring, and carrying with him every day.

jony ive ipad pro
The list appears in a special issue of Financial Times' "How to Spend It" magazine (paywalled), of which Ive is guest editor, and the designer uses the opportunity to put the focus on his obsession with "making."

  • Torque wrench — Snap-On adjustable torque wrench, £455
  • Tonearm — Linn titanium Ekos SE tonearm, $5,645, basilaudio.com
  • Hex Keys — Wiha colour-coded hex L-Key set, from $3.69
  • Paper folder — Paper folder, hwebber.co.uk
  • Measuring Tape — Hermès leather In The Pocket measuring tape, $530
  • Loupe — Vintage brass folding magnifier by Leitz Wetzlar, from Ive’s personal collection
  • Fountain pen — Vintage pen by Montegrappa, from Ive's personal collection
  • Eraser — Graf Von Faber-Castell platinum-plated eraser, £100, jacksonsart.com
  • Pencil case — Vintage leather pouch by Visvim, from Ive's personal collection
  • Protractor — Mitutoyo 6in universal bevel protractor, £264
  • Depth gauge — Starrett 440Z-3RL depth micrometer, $355
    Weather station — Wempe Navigator II ship’s clock and weather station, $1,960

Ive doesn't offer any explanation for what makes the list or what specific products they helped him design, but in a separate piece in which Ive and fellow LoveFrom designer Marc Newson talk about the equipment in their Cotswolds workshop, he opines:

"There's a beauty and a joy in the machines and tools. They are no longer solely a means to an end. I think there's an inherent elegance in an effective tool that normally results in a curious beauty."

Later in the conversation, Ive recalls how Newson helped him through the challenges he faced working on the Apple Watch, and how he "really struggled" with the physical design.

I do think our work on the Apple Watch together speaks to a joyful and effective collaboration at a particularly difficult time. I had felt so strongly that there was an important opportunity to create a very personal and useful product that could be worn on the wrist. I spent a lot of time wrestling with the big founding ideas and the fundamental issues of interface but had somehow assumed that the work on the actual object would be fairly straightforward.

When the basic architecture of the idea was defined, I really struggled with the physical design. It was from that place of struggle that I asked you to help. While it was humbling for me, I think we got to the final design quickly together. We are proud of the work. I always hope to achieve that sense of inevitability, that simplicity where there doesn’t really appear to be a rational alternative.

Ive co-founded LoveFrom with Newson in 2019 after leaving his position at Apple. At the time, the tech giant said it would remain one of Ive's primary clients, but which Apple products he has helped to design since then is unknown. Apple said Ive was involved in the design of the colorful 24-inch iMac released in April, but it's not clear if that work occurred after Ive left the company.

It remains unclear how many employees work for LoveFrom, but Ive recruited at least four of his former Apple colleagues to work with him at the firm, including Wan Si, Chris Wilson, Patch Kessler, and Jeff Tiller.

Popular Stories

apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iPhone 16 Battery Life Feature

iOS 26's New Battery Life Mode Available Only on These iPhone Models

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:02 am PDT by
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode. Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer." The full description of...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Preparing to Launch Long-Awaited Lossless Audio Tier on iPhone

Thursday June 19, 2025 1:46 pm PDT by
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier. Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player. With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
airpods 4 blue

Apple Offering Free AirPods — Here's How to Get Them

Tuesday June 17, 2025 6:33 am PDT by
Apple is running a new promotion that offers free AirPods to qualifying customers. Now through September 30, college and university students in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Singapore can receive free AirPods 4 when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. AirPods Pro 2 are also available at a discount. If you do not want AirPods, the promotion also offers various other...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...

Top Rated Comments

SilenceBroken Avatar
41 months ago
A $530 measuring tape... GTFOH.
Score: 106 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sheepish-Lord Avatar
41 months ago
This is some pretentious stuff
Score: 82 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Satjiv's one click Avatar
41 months ago
Suddenly the $699 wheels look reasonable
Score: 40 Votes (Like | Disagree)
uptownnyc Avatar
41 months ago
Pfft. Instead of the $530 measuring tape, I prefer to line up $100 bills across the span I'm measuring and throw them away when finished.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
machpost Avatar
41 months ago
He was so obsessed with the beauty and the joy of the machines and tools that he sometimes forgot to shave, shower, or even get dressed before showing up to a meeting two hours late.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PsykX Avatar
41 months ago

A $530 measuring tape... GTFOH.
Below the $500 mark, measuring tapes don't take good measurements.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)