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Apple design chief Jonathan Ive awarded knighthood
- bitops 15y agoThat's "Sir" Johnathan Ive. He was knighted, you know.
- jonhendry 15y agoI'm not sure if he's been knighted yet. The honors come out in a long list at New Years, but I think the ceremonies are done bit by bit over a longer span of time. The Queen would probably get tired waving that sword around for so long. Terry Pratchett's knighthood was announced in the 2008 New Years' list, but it was a couple of months before it was made official at Buckingham Palace.
- SamReidHughes 15y agoNot in America he isn't.
- bitops 15y agoUsually I wouldn't say this, but... Has everyone on HN lost their friggin' sense of humor?! [EDIT: let me clarify by saying that my karma has gone up and down on the top comment. So some folks get it.]
- sliverstorm 15y agoHN has been methodically stamping out humor recently. No joke.
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- techsupporter 15y agoYes, he is. The U.S. Constitution forbids U.S. citizens from receiving honors such as this, but, of course, does nothing to prohibit non-citizens from the same. It is a matter of courtesy to use someone's title, even in the United States. Even the U.S. government refers to people with their titles, such as The Right Honourable Stephen Harper when the Prime Minister of Canada visits the United States. "Sir," especially in an instance such as this, is an earned title with which its owner is entitled to be addressed.
- andrewpi 15y agoActually the Constitution doesn't forbid US Citizens from receiving such honors. You might be thinking of the Titles of Nobility Amendment, which never was ratified by the required number of States.
- Jun8 15y agoHmm, this got me thinking: An interesting loop occurs when you want to announce that person X has been knighted (what is the verb for women, "damed"?), i.e. is now Sir X (SX). The thing is you can't say "SX has been knighted" because that is a tautology. But saying "X has been knighted" sounds wrong because, you know, he's no longer X.
- ComputerGuru 15y ago>(what is the verb for women, "damed"?) Spent a good ten minutes Googling this one. It would seem no separate word exists ('damed' is not a word), though one site suggested the use of 'daymed' (it's a pun. not very funny :) I believe technically both men and women are knighted. One becomes a Sir, and the other a Dame. If you think it sounds funny, I supposed "made a dame" might be another way of phrasing it.
- Silhouette 15y agoIf memory serves, historically the verb "create" was used for high appointments. For example, the monarch would take Bill Smith and create him William, Duke of Somewhere. He would then formally be addressed as Lord Somewhere. I don't know whether the same phraseology would ever have made sense for a knight, though, and I may well be a bit off on the details.
- timthorn 15y agoTry ennobled as an alternative.
- sliverstorm 15y agoYou can always cheat by referring to him indirectly ("design chief has been knighted") or simply claim that you are addressing him informally. The Sir is formal, I do not believe you are required to use it in casual conversation? Well, we could put this another way and say that his name has not changed, in the same way as you might address me as Mr. John Doe OR John Doe OR Mr. Doe. Mr, Mrs, Miss, are all (classically) forms of minor titles.
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- joshes 15y ago>Interestingly enough, Jobs himself was also considered for knighthood by the Queen of the United Kingdom, but the proposal was blocked by a former Prime Minister because Jobs declined to speak at a Labour Party conference. That's fascinating to me. As an American who has never paid much attention to British knighthood, I am not knowledgeable about the process for selecting whom becomes a British knight. Could someone with the requisite knowledge perhaps elucidate on whether or not ostensibly petty politics get in the way of these things with regularity? It seems absolutely absurd that someone who is being considered for knighthood could be denied of that because of something as minuscule as declining to speak at a party conference.
- fiesycal 15y agoI'm fairly sure you have to either have British citizenship or citizenship in one of the Commonwealth nations to be knighted. Otherwise you receive an honorary knighthood. Also some Commonwealth nations don't allow their citizens to receive honours, for example Canada.
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- bitops 15y agoYes, it's honorary for non-Brits. Bill Gates, for instance, is just below knight, though he still holds a high honor bestowed by the Queen.
- FrankBooth 15y agoJust below knight? He was awarded a KBE, honorary though it may be.
- ComputerGuru 15y agoIn fact, should he even end up a British citizen (dual-citizenship, give up his US citizenship, or whatever else), he would automatically become a full knight.
- olivercameron 15y agoIncredibly well deserved. If we all learn one thing from Sir Jony Ive, it's that simplicity wins out every single time. Really happy to see him get mainstream recognition, because he truly should be up there with all the other well-known genius Brit's like Branson and Dyson.
- keithpeter 15y agoIts worth pointing out that Sir Jonathan went to a Further Education College and then a Polytechnic, and then went on to start his own small design agency? This is an excellent example to others including my own students some of whom are on design courses here in the UK.
- wallflower 15y agoIf you have not seen Gary Hustwit's design documentary, "Objectified", I recommend it highly. Especially if you are not a professional designer (I am not a designer, and I know enough to appreciate good design, not produce it) [1]. In "Objectified", Dieter Rams (of iconic Braun fame) is asked if there is any company that really gets design today. He answers after a moment's pause: "Apple".[2] [1] Ira Glass on the importance of having good taste before you can produce to the expectations of that taste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI23U7U2aUY (EDIT: Fixed link) [2] "Objectified: Dieter Rams commentary" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBF1rOxWsxg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBF1rOxWsxg http://objectifiedfilm.com http://objectifiedfilm.com
- felipemnoa 15y agoYour first link has no video.
- culturestate 15y agoErik Spiekermann (famous type designer) says much the same about Apple in "Helvetica."
- matthavener 15y agoIts available on netflix instant http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Objectified/70114976 http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Objectified/70114976
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- statictype 15y agoAm I the only one who was under the impression that he was already knighted for his work on the iPod/iMac (even before the iPhone was announced)? I could have sworn I read something to that effect many years ago.
- FrankBooth 15y agoHe was a Commander, now he's a Knight Commander. Only now may he use the title "Sir".
- zerostar07 15y agoHe has to refer to himself as 'Sir' too?
- philwelch 15y ago> The knighthood, which is for "services to design and enterprise," is a step up from his previous title of Commander of the British Empire, which was awarded in 2005.
- grandalf 15y agoThis is as absurd as if he'd been given an honorary title by the Church of Scientology... Am I the only one who sees this as a pitiful attempt by a government to rub elbows with someone who truly has merit, and by doing so to create the notion that there is some form of equality between the two? I think any self-respecting person would decline knighthood. Though I can see in this case how his corporate responsibilities would lead him to accept it in order not to offend British subjects, since doing so might hurt sales.
- FrankBooth 15y agoThe entire British government has no merit? Really?
- grandalf 15y agoOne could make the same argument about the Church of Scientology. The knighthood is via the figurehead, monarchic part of the government which serves no actual purpose.
- tptacek 15y agoI'm guessing two things from this comment. (1) You are a computer programmer. (2) You are not British. Am I right about either of them? I hope so. I upvoted you in sympathy. :)
- grandalf 15y agoYou are correct. I have nothing against the British government or the Church of Scientology, but I do think titles of nobility are bizarre and a reminder of our civilization's dark past.
- sliverstorm 15y agoDo they really differ from the titles we use in the USA? "Senator" Bush. "Mr. President" (every president past and present) "Sir" is no more a title of nobility (today) than any of those.
- vonskippy 15y agoEver since the "Slay Dragon" requirement has been removed, the honour seems a bit shallow.
- kghose 15y agoThere is much wit in this brevity.
- cenuij 15y agoFrankly, it's bullshit. If it takes the queen to Recognise and protect this level of art, then we are fucked Vs. US bullshit.
- zerostar07 15y agoWait ... that means he 's with the Empire now?
- richardburton 15y agoWell-deserved.
- moonlighter 15y agoI'm happy that Jony got awarded this honor. But when I read "Commander of the British Empire" I chuckled and thought to myself, it's 2012 and this really ought to say "Commander of the British Empire or what's left of it" ;)
- tobylane 15y agoIt's prestige without power, pointing out the lack of power lowers the prestige.
- moonlighter 15y agoPointing to something which doesn't exist anymore is usually bad thing. NPE's come to mind.
- tobylane 15y agoPatent trolls can scare off competitors, Sirs just mean they led a publicly useful, honorable British-started life.