Last week it was reported that Apple was losing three members of its Industrial Design team. Now another one has departed.
Eight-year veteran Milk Silvanto left the tech giant last month to join Airbnb’s offshoot design studio and is joining the company’s housebuilding initiative, reports de zeen. The article says he’ll move from Apple’s industrial design department to lead the industrial and interaction design team at Backyard – an enterprise that Samara launched last year to devise new ways to design, build and share homes better suited to new modes of living.
Apparently, the long-time Industrial Design team is slowly disbanding after the success of products like iPhone made their futures secure and comfortable. New blood is filling their positions, so it will be interesting to see what products are fashioned under the revamped group.
Apple industrial design was established in April 1977 when Steve Jobs hired Jerry Manock to design the Apple II case. Here’s how Apple describes the team: It “plays a pivotal role at every stage of the product development process, from the preliminary concept to the production of the painstakingly crafted final product. This team is world-renowned for their meticulous attention to detail and the high-quality standards they use to select materials, manufacturing processes, and final colors and finishes. Their projects extend further than product categories to also support the design of accessories, packaging, and the Apple retail experience.”
The group is super-secretive and rarely appears in public together. The 22-person team works under the guidance of Sir Jony Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of design.
