Jony Ive Wins Lifetime Achievement Award From SF's Museum of Modern Art

jony_iveApple's design chief Jony Ive is set to be honored with the Bay Area Treasure Award, given by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Ive will receive the award for his long history of designing innovative products for Apple.

"Ive is our generation's most innovative and influential figure in the field of industrial design--no other design mind has done more to transform the way we visualize and share information," said SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. "SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast to establish a department of architecture and design, and we're thrilled to celebrate Ive's revolutionary achievements."

Ive, who has designed products for Apple since 1992, has been responsible for many of the company's flagship products, including the iPod, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iOS 7.

The award will be given to Ive at a dinner and presentation set to be held on Thursday, October 30, 2014, where Ive will speak with SFMOMA Curator of Architecture and Design Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher. Tickets for the event will range in price from $400 to $1,250 and can be purchased via the Modern Art Council.

In the past, SFMOMA's Bay Area Treasure Award has been given to famed artists and creators like architect Lawrence Halprin, filmmaker George Lucas, media artist Jim Cambbell, and painter Wayne Thiebaud. In a statement, Ive said he was proud to be recognized by the museum.

"I've always enjoyed visiting SFMOMA, and I think it represents exceptional contemporary art and design," said Ive. "I'm very grateful to the museum and proud to be recognized among such an amazing list of past recipients."

Ive has received several other awards for his work at Apple, including a 2007 National Design Award for the iPhone and a 2009 honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design. Ive was also appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire back in 2006 and in 2012, he was elevated to Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, where he was knighted by Princess Anne.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 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 ...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp Teases Long-Awaited iPad App

Monday May 26, 2025 10:23 am PDT by
The popular messaging app WhatsApp has teased a long-awaited iPad app, which would be offered alongside its existing iPhone and Mac apps. The official WhatsApp account on X today reacted with an eyes emoji to a post saying that WhatsApp should release an iPad app. This could be a hint that Meta is gearing up to release WhatsApp for iPad, which has already been available for beta testing via...
WWDC 2025 Banner

WWDC is Just Two Weeks Away: Here Are the Biggest iOS 19 Rumors

Monday May 26, 2025 8:12 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just two weeks away as of today, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19, visionOS 3, and other software updates, along with new Apple Intelligence features. In some years, there are also hardware announcements at WWDC, but there are no...
HomePod With Screen Feature

Apple's Rumored Smart Home Hub Has Faced a Disappointing Setback

Monday May 26, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
Apple has scrapped some of the features that it had planned for its long-rumored smart home hub device, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "I'm told that Apple has pulled some bolder features from the device that could reappear in subsequent models," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter this week. However, he did not reveal any of the specific features that were pulled. Apple made...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature 2

Apple Rumored to Redesign the iPhone Every Year Through to 2027

Tuesday May 27, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly preparing to implement significant iPhone hardware redesigns each year for the next three generations. According leaks from the Chinese supply chain disclosed by Weibo user "Digital Chat Station," Apple plans to carry out a series of phased industrial design changes affecting different parts of the iPhone across three consecutive years: 2025, 2026, and 2027. The changes...
top stories 2025 05 24

Top Stories: iPhone 17 Air Details, Apple's Smart Glasses, and More

Saturday May 24, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
WWDC is coming up quickly with a number of software announcements in store, but we're also looking further ahead to hardware launches like the iPhone 17 lineup and even Apple's smart glasses project. This week also saw big news with former Apple design guru Jony Ive joining forces with OpenAI to build future AI-driven devices, while Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store for the first time...
iCloud General Feature Redux

Apple Raises iCloud+ Prices in Three Countries

Monday May 26, 2025 1:45 pm PDT by
Apple recently raised prices for its iCloud+ plans in Brazil, Chile, and Peru, according to a support document updated last Thursday. The table below outlines the price changes in each country. Country Old Prices New Prices Brazil 50GB: R$ 4.90 200GB: R$ 14.90 2TB: R$ 49.90 6TB: R$ 149.90 12TB: R$ 299.90 50GB: R$ ...
Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT

Report: Apple Planned to Offer Starlink-Like Home Internet Service

Tuesday May 27, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
Apple had plans to offer a Starlink-like satellite home internet service in collaboration with Boeing, The Information reports. Starting in 2015, Apple held discussions with Boeing about "Project Eagle," a plan to launch a service to provide wireless internet services to iPhones and homes. The companies would have launched thousands of satellites into orbit around the Earth to beam internet...

Top Rated Comments

redscull Avatar
144 months ago
including the iPod, iPod touch, iPhone, iPad, iMac, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iOS 7
One of these things is not like the other!
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
melendezest Avatar
144 months ago
For *some* of his hardware designs, I say "Good show." (If he had anything to do with all the variations of the iPod Mini, I'd say he flunked out.)

But you will get absolutely no kudos from me for anything he did that was software-related (i.e., iOS7 and God knows what hell he'll introduce to the next Mac OS.

This.

His work on the older "Aluminium" devices is fantastic, and the iPhone 4/4s is still my favorite phone looks-wise. The unibody Macbooks rock, and even the Air and retina MBPs are amazing.

The G4 Cube and the "tablelamp" iMac G4 we're the most beautiful computers I'd ever seen, to this day. They are what initially attracted me to the Mac. Then I saw OSX, and it was over.

Fast-forward to today, and I'm closer than ever to leaving the Apple altogether because of his work (although I blame Tim for that).

So, hardware award? Sure. Much deserved.

Software? No. HELL no.

So far, I think his solo work is weak. I really don't think he's any good without Steve Jobs saying "No" to him and steering him in the right direction.

But maybe that's just me.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPSaltzman Avatar
144 months ago
For *some* of his hardware designs, I say "Good show." (If he had anything to do with all the variations of the iPod Mini, I'd say he flunked out.)

But you will get absolutely no kudos from me for anything he did that was software-related (i.e., iOS7 and God knows what hell he'll introduce to the next Mac OS.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iMacFarlane Avatar
144 months ago
I wonder which color his t shirt will be when he receives the award

It should be blindingly white, with a logo written in thin, light green text.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TWSS37 Avatar
144 months ago
Might be interesting: OS XIve
Pronounced: Zive

I wish I could downvote this into oblivion ;)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mackan Avatar
144 months ago
Soon OS X is Ived, as well.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)