Apple Picks Up Another Hot-Shot Designer

Apple (AAPL) has confirmed that well-known industrial designer Marc Newson, who’s engaged on projects for Ford, Nike and Quantas and had his worked archived by MoMA, has joined Jonathan Ive’s team as a company employee, upping the iPhone maker’s luxury profile for its upcoming iWatch.

Newsom lives in London and runs Marc Newson Ltd., his own independent design firm. According to reports, he will spend a significant amount of time at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, but will continue to work in London as well.

Ive and Newson reportedly are good friends and are said to already have worked together on Apple’s iWatch. Newson’s hiring may have prompted Ive’s well-publicized, bold remarks last week ahead of the iWatch’s expected Sept. 9 debut that Switzerland, the world’s stronghold of traditional luxury watchmakers, “is in [trouble].”

“Marc is without question one of the most influential designers of this generation,” Ive told Vanity Fair Daily (VFD). “He is extraordinarily talented. We are particularly excited to formalize our collaboration as we enjoy working together so much and have found our partnership so effective.”

Ive and Newson collaborated on U2 lead singer Bono’s auction in November 2013, an effort that raised $26.2 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS in Africa, according to the U.K.’s Mail Online. The pair sold off a collection of their own, including a piano, desk, camera and a custom  red model of the Mac Pro, to raise money for the effort.

“I’m full of admiration and respect for the extraordinary design work that has been produced by Jony and the team at Apple,” Newson said. “My close friendship with Jony has not only given me a unique insight into that process, but the opportunity to work together with him and the people that have been responsible. I am enormously proud to join them.”

Newson is among a crew of luxury-item executives Apple has lured into the fold in the last year, including Patrick Pruniaux, Swiss watch maker Tag Heuer’s sales vice president; former Burberry chief Angela Ahrendts to run its retail operation; and Paul Deneve, previously head of fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent, to work on its special projects.

Invites fashion editors to launch

Apple reportedly has invited top fashion editors and bloggers to its Sept. 9 event, according to Reuters, which said a number of fashion media editors confirmed they’d been invited for the first time to an Apple product launch, apparently to check out the vendor’s iWatch.

“I assume it’s because they are unveiling a wearable,” Lea Goldman, Marie Claire magazine features and special projects director, a first-time invitee, told Reuters. “This suggests Apple is serious about tapping into the fashion world, which often sits on the sidelines.”

Apple previously has showcased its iPhone to fashion editors, but typically in a separate event in New York.

“It confirms that they have a play in wearables and that they want to appeal to the fashion world, and not just technology consumers,” Lauren Indvik, Fashionista editor in chief and another first-time invitee, told Reuters.