Jonathan Ive Inspires Child Designers, Receives BBC's Gold Blue Peter Badge Amid Apple's Aluminum Milling Machines

Apple design chief Jonathan Ive has been awarded a gold badge by the BBC children's show Blue Peter, a show the British-born designer watched as a child and which encourages children to make things from ordinary household objects. Blue Peter is the world's longest-running children's television show, having been on the air for over 50 years.

bluepeter2
The show said that Ive was an "inspiration to children around the world". Blue Peter awards the badges to those it considers have encouraged and inspired children to develop their talents, with the gold badge awarded to Ive marking exceptional achievement.

The interview clip accompanying the BBC's article represents a rare public appearance by Ive, and it takes place in an Apple facility surrounded by equipment including a CNC machine for milling aluminum. Ive will also be featured in the half-hour Blue Peter episode airing tomorrow on CBBC.



Ive said that he had loved watching the show as a child, and described receiving the award as 'absolutely incredible'. He referenced the way the show encouraged children to make things from objects as ordinary as detergent bottles.

I loved the way there was just products that you thought were no longer useful, but reusing them. It was fantastic.

Ive in turn presented the show with a Blue Peter badge milled from a single block of aluminum, the approach famously used for the MacBook Pro.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 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 March 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 ...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...
Magic Mouse Green

What to Expect From the Magic Mouse 3

Saturday March 29, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly working on a new Magic Mouse. Below, we recap what to expect. The two key rumors for the Magic Mouse 3 so far include a relocated charging port, along with a more ergonomic design. It was briefly rumored that the Magic Mouse 3 would also feature voice control, but that was misinterpreted information. Relocated Charging Port While the Magic Mouse switched from...
top stories 2025 03 29

Top Stories: WWDC 2025 Announced, iPhone 17 Pro and iOS 19 Rumors, and More

Saturday March 29, 2025 6:00 am PDT by
Apple's big developer event is a little over two months away, and rumors about what we can expect to see in Apple's next major operating system updates are becoming increasingly frequent. A public release of iOS 18.4 is also imminent with a number of updates and improvements, although we won't be getting the major Apple Intelligence Siri upgrades that had reportedly been planned for this...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Six Things to Know About Apple's Upcoming Foldable iPhone

Friday March 28, 2025 3:54 pm PDT by
We've been hearing rumors about a foldable iPhone for almost a decade now, but it looks like we might finally see the device come to fruition in 2026. We're going to be waiting many more months for the foldable iPhone, but so far we're hearing good things. Apple wants to make it creaseless. It's taken Apple multiple years to design a foldable iPhone that it's satisfied with because Apple ...
iOS 19 visionOS UI Elements

Apple Codename Provides Clue About iOS 19's Rumored New Design

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:40 am PDT by
Multiple sources have claimed that iOS 19 will introduce a new design with more translucent buttons, menus, notification banners, and more, and there is now another clue that points towards this glass-like appearance. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman today said the new design project is codenamed "Solarium" internally. A solarium is a room with glass walls that allow in plenty of sunlight, so this...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
ipad pro 2024

Gurman: New iPad Pro and MacBook Pro Models With M5 Chips to Launch Later This Year

Sunday March 30, 2025 6:06 am PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPad Pro models with the M5 chip will "launch this year," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said the new iPad Pro models have progressed to an "advanced testing" stage, and he expects mass production of the devices to begin in the second half of this year. If that timeframe is met, the new iPad Pro models could launch...

Top Rated Comments

MonkeySee.... Avatar
158 months ago
Wow,

Just so you non-English know, getting this award is up there with getting an Oscar.



*cough*
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Wavell Avatar
158 months ago
a GOLD Blue Peter Badge ! Those are rarer than hen's teeth over here in the UK. To put this great honour into context, there are more people with knighthoods than Gold Blue Peter Badges ;)
Score: 30 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JaySoul Avatar
158 months ago
Here's one I made earlier.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Slix Avatar
158 months ago
Jony smiling is so cool. :D

Gotta say, I'm pretty inspired by Jony Ive too.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ddyracer Avatar
158 months ago
Say it with me...

ALOOMINIUM
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
parish Avatar
158 months ago
"...and in next week's show, we'll be showing you how you can make your very own iPhone from an empty Fairy Liquid bottle, two toilet roll centres, a tube of glue, and some sticky-back plastic...."
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)