Sir Jony Ive seems to invoked the spirit of Apple Mac for an unusual new product category

If you're an Apple fan, you will no doubt remember Sir Jony Ive. The British designer led the team responsible for some of Apple's most iconic products, from iMac and iPod, to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

He was at Apple from 1992, which if you know your dates, was long before before the brand got into smartphones and tablets.

He left Apple in 2019 and set up his own independent design company, LoveFrom, and a number of the team that worked with him at Apple have since moved over.

The agency has created a number of products over the last few years, with Ive at the helm, including a nose for Red Nose Day, and an AirBnB redesign. It recently also announced it was collaborating with OpenAI to launch AI hardware.

What is Sir Jony's latest product?

However, the latest product to come from the studio will certainly have Mac Pro fans from 2013 smiling. As spotted by 9to5Mac, LoveFrom has revealed a Sailing Lantern in partnership with Japanese design and manufacturing company Balmuda. And it is absolutely gorgeous.

More to the point though, it definitely appears to take some inspiration from the Mac Pro from 12 years back – even some of the see-through design elements from the original iMac.

Ive said of the partnership: "Our lantern was created and built for maritime conditions.

"While the materials, form and product architecture are new, there is a reassuring familiarity to the nautical lanterns and Fresnel lamps of the past whose designs evolved to address the same unforgiving functional requirements."

The materials were said to be "chosen for integrity and longevity" including precision-ground and polished glass. There is precision-machined stainless steel too, featuring mirror polished, texture-blasted and durable electroplated finishes.

It's also said to be "easy to maintain, disassemble and repair", and has been designed so it can be recycled at the end of its useable lifespan.

The only thing you might baulk at is the price. LoveFrom and Balmuda’s Sailing Lantern is going to be a limited edition offering, with only 1,000 units available. It is due to ship in 2026 and will cost $4,800 (around £3,573 / €4,092).