Jony Ive Emerges to Put His Own Spin on a Legendary Turntable

Something designed by Sir Jony Ive is just about assured to garner a peerless diploma of curiosity and a spotlight by the sheer truth Apple’s former head of design has flown principally below the radar since co-launching LoveFrom, in 2019 with fellow designer Marc Newson. He’s lately emerged with the announcement of his first {hardware} undertaking post-Apple – the fiftieth anniversary Linn Sondek LP12-50 turntable – a ardour undertaking of types, revealing Ive’s love of traditional design and his audiophile tastes.

The white end was unsurprisingly the results of a suggestion of Ive.

The origin story behind the fiftieth anniversary Linn Sondek LP12 turntable reads one thing like a film plot: “I bought a LinkedIn request for a gathering with British design guru, Sir Jony Ive,” Linn’s Director of Engineering Gilad Tiefenbrun notes in his recollection of the start of the partnership. Actually, Tiefenbrun admits he initially deleted the assembly request, believing it was a spam message. “A number of hours later, I had this nagging feeling – ‘Possibly it was Jony Ive’ – so I bought it out of the trash.”

“We noticed quite a few areas the place there may very well be small enhancements and delicate evolutions of the present design,” Ive famous in a function with Quick Firm. After a 12 months of co-development between Linn and LoveFrom, Ive’s affinity for the model comes by way of within the deft and modest touches left throughout the turntable’s redesign: edges smoothed, plastic hinges modified out for precision-machined metallic hinges, and most prominently Ive-ian, the plastic rocker energy button is now a round, machined-from-solid aluminum, energy change.

Small touches just like the house gray anodized arm board with Sondek LP12-50 mannequin identify subtly imprinted throughout makes it quietly identified this LP12-50 turntable is a bit particular. Restricted to simply 250 on the planet, particular. Extra photographs of the LP12-50 over on the Monetary Occasions.

The all-new “Bedrok” plinth is machined from a single block of dense wooden made by compressing layers of beech below excessive stress, leading to what Tiefenbrun describes as an “acoustically silent platform.”

Tiefenbrun is glowingly ecstatic of the collaboration. “The result’s our best-sounding, best-looking, and most usable Sondek LP12 ever… I couldn’t have picked a greater means of marking our fiftieth anniversary than with this landmark collaboration on Sondek LP12-50.”

Even at $60,000, we count on all 250 of those Linn turntables to search out completely satisfied properties. Should you’re so inclined to turn into one of many few, Linn is accepting reservation requests right here.

Gregory Han is the Managing Editor of Design Milk. A Los Angeles native with a profound love and curiosity for design, climbing, tide swimming pools, and street journeys, a collection of his adventures and musings might be discovered at gregoryhan.com.