What’s your job title? Most people like the design, but many say it’s a bit fiddly to use. Marc Newson, a Sydney College of the Arts graduate now living in London, has been described as one of the most influential designers of this generation. The Cupertino, California-based giant surrendered its crown as the world's most valuable company to Microsoft last year,  and is now also behind Amazon, in terms of market value. Everything has to be correct.’ Since he’s so close to the design boss, there’s none of the politics you usually find in big firms. Marc Newson, a reputable industrial designer whom Apple hired last September to help shape future products, recently sat down with the London Evening Standard newspaper in his first print interview since formally starting his new role at Apple.. The device is displayed in rows of glass-topped tables inside the Carlo e Camilla restaurant in Segheria. Apple announced that Newson had joined its design team last September, when the watch and the iPhone 6 were unveiled at the firm’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Most Apple folk guard their secrets. Long silence. You could set up a bunch of these things in a department store or even an airport. ‘We will start to see more technology embedded in garments — magic woven in. Newson is a famed Australian designer who currently works for Apple alongside Jony Ive, but has also done work for Ford, Qantas, Samsonite, Leica, and Pentax. Three years ago he and Ive collaborated to create a customised Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox watch for an auction of their favourite objects to raise funds for RED, the charity set up by U2's Bono to fight AIDS. But by deadline, Apple shares had recovered and were down just 0.6 per cent. Industrial designer Marc Newson is to join the Apple design team, where he will work alongside Apple's senior vice president of design, Jonathan Ive. Newson is shaggy, with a salt and mahogany mane. You can find our Community Guidelines in full Are you sure you want to delete this comment? But it goes from strength to strength. The Apple Watch, the 18ct gold versions of which cost £13,500, is the first step. But the clue is in his job title. But it’s a corporate bromance, too. Most of Cupertino’s finest personify the pared-down focus of Apple’s products. There is no word yet on Newson’s immediate future. The most senior Australian executive at the world's most iconic tech company is stepping down. ‘The way I see it, it’s evolution, progress,’ Newson recovers. Only 15 Lockheed Lounge chairs were ever made. Investors remain uneasy about sluggish iPhone sales growth, and the potential impact of a trade war between the US and China on the company's supply chain and profits. ‘Believe in your f***ing self. Former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, a friend of Newson’s, complains: ‘The problem with wearable technology is it’s a bit cold.’ Newson laughs. Apple is showing off the Apple Watch at the Salone Del Mobile Design fair in Milan, Italy, with SVP of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, and industrial designer, Marc Newson, both on hand at the event. In his first solo interview since joining the Silicon Valley giant, he tells John Arlidge the tech firm’s future lies in fashion and cars, The latest lifestyle, fashion and travel trends, Register with your social account or click here to log in. Car firms are racing to make their new models so hi-tech they create the auto-motive answer to the iPhone. This really does confirm the Australian-born designer’s ‘superstar’ status. The most senior Australian executive at the world's most iconic tech company is stepping down. Mr Ive and Mr Newson will continue to work closely with Apple via their new design agency,  LoveFrom. He won’t be making many shareholder presentations, but shareholders will learn to love him because he has a crucial role to play in the next chapter of the Apple story. Stay up all f***ing night’ is his motto, proudly displayed on the wall in his home. here. It’s a good story — except, of course, it isn’t true. The firm is transforming itself from a pure technology company into a luxury lifestyle firm. It was Ive’s first watch but one of many for Newson. Smart watches, a new bookshop, a bespoke villa on a Greek island, summer parties, £2.4m chairs — not to mention the coolest new job in the world. Ikepod and the Jaeger-LeCoultre collaboration ‘led Jony to the conclusion that it might be a good thing to get me involved on the Apple Watch,’ says Newson. ‘No, but I met him.’ Who earns more, you or Jonathan? He holds the record for the most valuable work sold at auction by a living designer — one of his Lockheed Lounge chairs (opposite) went under the hammer at Phillips in London for £2.4m last week. Newson has experience in tech — as well as Ikepod watches, he and Ive designed a Leica camera from scratch for the RED auction — but he trained as a silversmith, studied jewellery design, and has worked with Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Azzedine Alaïa and Dom Pérignon. He hopes to open more like it. Everybody knows Jonathan Ive, the Briton behind the clean lines of the iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. News of the departures initially hit Apple shares in after hours trading in the US on Friday morning, wiping billions from the company's market value. ‘Indefinitely, I hope.’ Did you work with Steve Jobs before he died? His first store for German publishing giant Taschen has just opened in Milan. Ive is part of a team of… well, nobody knows. Given that this is his first print interview since he formally started his new role, let’s start with the formalities. Marc Newson, the London-based industrial designer who joined Apple in 2014 and has been involved in the development of key products including the Apple Watch, is leaving the $US900 billion ($1.3 trillion) giant to form a new agency with his close friend, the hugely respected Jony Ive. Although the two have made public appearances since then at various times (and before that), Newson had been keeping mum about his work at Apple. Portraits by Mattia Zoppellaro / Contrasto / Eyevine. She’ll do a complete about-face once she really starts using it.’, Traditional Swiss luxury watch manufacturers have dismissed Apple’s timepiece as too common and cheap to be luxury. Design has been one of hallmarks of Apple in its revival since deceased co-founder Steve Jobs returned to the fold in 1997, and under his successor as CEO Tim Cook. By contrast, more than a million Apple watches have already been ordered. They are also preparing for a few of their legendary fashion and art parties at their home in Victoria, where you are as likely to bump into Tom Ford as you are art dealer Larry Gagosian. There are some incredible things that are going to happen.’, Another big leap would be a car. You could hate Marc Newson, if he wasn’t so bloody nice, mate. It is marketed as a luxury product and the models are sold in a different way from the rest of Apple’s kit by specialist teams under the gimlet eye of another new hire, Paul Deneve, former CEO of Saint Laurent. Both he and Ive are petrolheads. ES. Why not accelerate ahead of the pack with an iCar? Newson has designed a concept car for Ford. They dislike the vast majority of consumer products, so they design radically new ones that we could not have imagined before. ‘It does things exactly the way they need to be done, or not at all. ‘I don’t really have one but I work on special projects.’ Is it full-time? But it still qualifies as a luxury object. Benedikt Taschen opened the new Taschen flagship store at Via Meravigli 17 in Milan last month, with collaborations from Marc Newson and Jonas Wood. Each owns several hundred thousand pounds’ worth of mainly classic Aston Martins, Lamborghinis and Bentleys. But times are changing. At first sight, Newson is ‘un-Applely’. He describes himself as ‘techie in an analogue sense’. I don’t see how they and the Apple Watch cannibalise one another or compete.’, What is Newson’s next move? wiping billions from the company's market value. So it becomes a useful object and not something that will just sit in the top drawer of your cupboard for the rest of eternity.’, I notice he is not wearing his Apple Watch. Son dernier produit, un distributeur de bière imaginé pour Heineken et Krups, montre que Newson avait déjà ‘I might hold off building a little while longer, so I’ll be able to pay in drachmas!’ he jokes. He could work for anyone, anywhere. Credit:Bloomberg. The key is his friendship with Ive.