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Jonathan Ive, the British product designer responsible for the iconic form factors of numerous Apple devices, was knighted on Wednesday at Buckingham Palace.
Sir Jonathan, 45, said he is "both humbled and sincerely grateful" for the honour.
Steve Jobs, the late multimedia magnate who helped transform several entertainment industries, described Ive as his "spiritual partner", according to biographer Walter Isaacson.
Born in Chingford, east London, Sir Jonathan studied at Newcastle Polytechnic and in 1992 was hired by Apple. Four years later was placed in charge of the California firm’s design team, and today stands as senior vice-president of industrial design.
It is widely agreed that his first major product design was for the "Bondi blue" iMac G3 that launched in the late nineties.
Sir Jonathan said the UK has a “remarkable tradition of designing and making".
"It’s important to remember that Britain was the first country to industrialise, so I think there’s a strong argument to say this is where my profession was founded,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
When asked by the newspaper which of his designs he considers his most important, Sir Jonathan responded:
“It’s a really tough one. A lot does seem to come back to the fact that what we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done, and so it would be what we’re working on right now, which of course I can’t tell you about.”
