Designers Jony Ive and Marc Newson recently collaborated on a collection of objects, some chosen and some designed and manufactured by them, for an auction supporting Bono’s (PRODUCT)RED brand and charity. Charlie Rose interviewed and toured the Sotheby’s auction floor with them. While the discussion was interesting in several ways, comments by Jony Ive on his motivations for design are deeply thoughtful and inspiring:

“I think, one of the things, that you get a sense of is the degree of care. How much did this group of people care to make this and make it right. And they didn’t do it for themselves, it’s in service to the people that are going to use or buy the product.

And I think there’s something, the humanity of that, I think is extraordinary. But I do think, as Marc was saying, how something’s finished on the inside, you can argue that you’ll never see that. But I think, we believe, and it’s very difficult to explain why, but I think part of the human condition is that we sense care.

And sometimes it’s easier to realize you sense carelessness. And I think we’re surrounded, our manufactured environment, so much of it you know, testifies to a complete lack of care. Which isn’t, you know, that’s not about your attitude toward an object, it’s about your attitude to each other.

And so I think that sort of commitment and passion become fanaticism of just really caring to get something right whether you’re going to see it or not. But we do that for each other.” - Jony Ive, Apple, Inc.

That is exactly the perspective that makes Jony Ive, and Apple, great. The quote comes at approximately 16:50 in the video interview.

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