A dozen Jony Ive possessions he thinks you should buy

The Financial Times has a set of a dozen Jony Ive possessions Apple’s former design chief thinks you should buy. You won’t be surprised to learn that most are extravagant, such as the $123 platinum-plated pencil eraser seen above, but one of them does start at just a few dollars …

The FTRegular feature is known as How to Spend It (HTSI).They will ask a public figure to give their top spending tips.

HTSI lists may be called aspirational. The GuardianNotes that a private three-day tour of Spain’s gastronomic delights was recently suggested, at a starting cost of $8,660. I’ll get right on that.

They picked Ive and it was not just a list with items but a series of features that emphasized the art of making things. The designer opens by talking about … hands.

My obsession with creating and making has been an ongoing one. It’s always fascinated me how the process of creating can be expressed in so many forms. We can make things that are tangible and quite permanent, such as buildings, products, paintings or silver coffee pots made by my father. They can also be exquisitely temporary, such as arrangements of flowers, food, or music.

This has been, perhaps predictably, a very personal issue of How to Spend It. I have collected many of my favorite people, places, and objects. In my quest to find the link between the bizarrely diverse things we make, I was again struck by the importance of our hands. Amazing hands. Hands are fascinating to me.
They are essential to the making process, as they are such great tools: durable, versatile, expressive, and expressive.

Each hand is unique. As we look at our hands, we are often struck by how strange they appear. We notice the lines and creases, as well as the joints and nails. Even though our hands are so distinctively visible, they often go unnoticed, avoiding any judgments made about other parts of our bodies. They are decorated and adorned with rings, which we use to show our love and loyalty.

While our hands might be less essential in a digital age, it is clear that in times of isolation and loneliness, the importance of touch and connection seems to be more important than ever.
Our hands are cultural icons.

They are symbols of skill, making, and industry. We can hold hands. We can punch.

Our hands enable us to write, paint, build, and tell stories about how we use them. They are our enablers and they tell us about ourselves.

Marc Newson, Marc’s long-term collaborator talks then about tools. Ive saidHe began designing things before he understood what design was.

My father was a silversmith. He also taught. The most valuable Christmas gift I got from my father was probably a few days of his time in the workshop. There was an agreement that I needed to spend time thinking and drawing the things I wanted to create. I didn’t really know it was called “design”.

As a child, understanding the making of the physical world seemed like a natural way to comprehend it. Evidently, everything here was designed or made. And everything that is designed or made is testament to its creators’ values. It is fascinating to see how an object came to be, not just its philosophy. But how it was made. It is rare for people to be able to describe the actual process of making the chair they use.

That piece is worth reading in full, and there’s another on “the magic of silver.” But you know and I know that you only clicked to see the dozen things Jony suggests you buy. Numbers 2 and 12 are obviously things he admires. The rest are geared towards making things.

Most do fall into the “extravagant” bracket, but at the same time, many are affordable luxuries. I couldn’t personally imagine spending £100 ($123) on the platinum-plated eraser seen in the above photos, but if I were drawing and erasing every day, I might feel differently.

1 Torque wrench 
Snap-On adjustable torque wrench, £455

2 Tonearm 
Linn titanium Ekos SE tonearm, $5,645, basilaudio.com

3 Hex keys
Wiha colour-coded hex L-Key set, from $3.69 (though the set is more)

4 Paper folder
Paper folder, hwebber.co.uk

5 Measuring Tape
Hermès leather In The Pocket measuring tape, $530

6 Loupe
Vintage brass folding magnifier by Leitz Wetzlar, from Jony Ive’s personal collection

7 Fountain pen
Vintage pen by Montegrappa, from Jony’s personal collection

8 Eraser
Graf Von Faber-Castell platinum-plated eraser, £100, jacksonsart.com

9 Pencil case
Vintage leather pouch by Visvim, from Jony’s personal collection

10 Protractor
Mitutoyo 6in universal bevel protractor, £264

11 Depth gauge
Starrett 440Z-3RL depth micrometer, $355

12 Weather station
Wempe Navigator II ship’s clock and weather station, $1,960

Is there anything that might tempt you? Please let us know what you think in the comments.

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