Sir Jonathan "Jony" Ive said he had an epiphany while designing on a Macintosh as a student at Newcastle Polytechnic. "I discovered the Mac and felt I had a connection with the people who were making this product," Ive told Steve Jobs' biographer Walter Isaacson.

Ive started a design company after college called Tangerine, which won a consulting contract with Apple. In 1992, Apple offered Ive a job in the company's design department. By 1996, Ive was the head of Apple's design group. But Ive said he wasn't happy around that time. Steve Jobs was not working at the company during that period, and Apple was focused more on maximizing profits than perfecting product designs.

All that changed in 1997, when Jobs returned to Apple.

Jobs met Ive when he was touring Apple's design studio. The two bonded quickly — according to former Apple engineer Jon Rubinstein, Ive and Jobs would regularly get lunch together, and Jobs would finish his day by dropping by the design studio to talk with Ive.

Ive and Jobs would go on to design some of the most iconic products in Apple's history, including the iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and even Apple's massive new campus, Apple Park. They weren't just coworkers, or even friends; they were soulmates, according to the many people who worked and lived with them.

After Jobs died in October 2011, Ive continued on at Apple, but his enthusiasm was greatly diminished. Despite getting a new title in 2015, "chief design officer," Ive was largely absent from Apple, and was reportedly showing up to company headquarters as little as twice a week. He also began to "shed responsibilities," according to Bloomberg.

Ive spent a lot of time traveling, and working with fellow designers on fun side projects and charity auctions. On June 27 of this year, Apple announced that Ive would be leaving to form a new company, called LoveFrom, of which Apple will be a client. Ive said the name LoveFrom was inspired by Jobs, who said he was motivated to make things with love and care, even though you'll probably never meet the person who bought it.