Apple fans can’t get over Jony Ive’s ridiculous “every day” design tools

He’s one of the most famous product designers around – and perhaps the most frequently ‘memed’. Think of an Apple product video, and you’ll probably imagine Jony Ive, sitting against a white background, saying words like “innovation” and “aluminium”. Ive left Apple back in 2019, but is still managing to raise eyebrows.

The designer this week revealed 12 tools of his trade “for making, for marking, for measuring, and carrying with you every day,” and let’s just say these are no bargain bucket items. The list makes our best pencils roundup look criminally cheap.

In a special edition of Financial Times titled How to Spend It (perhaps that should have been a clue that we were in for a luxury list), Ive explores his love of making, explaining that “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.” 

But the one thing fans can’t get over is the price of some of these “every day” items. There’s a $530 measuring tape from Hermès, a £264 protractor, a £100 eraser and, erm, a $5,645 tonearm – because who doesn’t keep a replacement part for their record player with them at all times? The full list of items is:

• 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

Needless to say, Apple fans are finding the whole thing a little bemusing. “Below the $500 mark, measuring tapes don’t take good measurements,” one MacRumors user comments, while another adds, “there’s not a single chance that people who actually buy a leather measuring tape are actually measuring anything other than the depth of their wallet.”