One of Apple’s last-remaining senior industrial designers from the Jony Ive era, Peter Russell-Clarke, has stepped down after nearly 20 years at the company. In an advisory capacity, he joins Vast Space, LLC which plans to use the launch capabilities of SpaceX to offer customers the ability to, among other things, “live in space for up to 30 days aboard the world’s first private space station,” which is “targeted to launch no earlier than August 2025 in a SpaceX Dragon vehicle.”
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The executive worked on hardware design for Apple’s main products and helped craft the look of its headquarters and retail stores. Russell-Clarke, who left the iPhone maker in October, is now joining space technology company Vast as an adviser. He will help the startup build its own industrial design team, Vast said in a statement Monday.
The move represents a changing of the guard for Apple’s vaunted design department. Nearly all of the roughly two dozen core designers who worked under Ive have now left the company.
MacDailyNews Note: Vast’s press release, verbatim:
Vast, a pioneer in space habitation technologies, is pleased to announce the appointment of Peter Russell-Clarke as an Industrial Design Advisor. Mr. Russell-Clarke is an industrial designer and educator, renowned for his design work at Apple. Over his nearly 20-year tenure at Apple, Russell-Clarke was instrumental in the design of iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches, as well as the Apple Park headquarters and consumer stores. He has been named in well over 1,000 Apple patents including the iMac, iPod Nano, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.
Prior to being approached by Apple in 2005 to join their small team of Industrial Designers under Jonathan Ive, Russell-Clarke founded and ran his own design studio. He worked with top clients including Nike and Swatch, as well as furniture, homeware, and technology companies across Europe, Asia, and the US. He was also invited to be the Global Group Design Manager for Nokia, overseeing design teams in five countries.
“I am excited to be involved with Vast on their incredibly ambitious endeavor,” said Peter Russell-Clarke. “It’s a huge task, but from what I’ve seen, the experience, enthusiasm, and dedication of the Vast team will no doubt lead to incredible things. The challenges are immense and the problems unique, but as a designer, using these constraints to find something completely new is enticing. I’m excited to create an environment to enable others to uncover new ideas in science, medicine, engineering, and art. A platform for discovery at a new frontier.”
Mr. Russell-Clarke will work with Vast to build out an Industrial Design team, and provide valuable insights across all aspects of Industrial Design at the company.
“We are honored to be working with Peter to embed industrial design into the core of our engineering design process with the objective of enhancing our space station astronaut experience, safety, and productivity,” said Alex Hudson, CTO.
Mr. Russell-Clarke stepped down from Apple earlier this year to pursue passion projects, including products and environments to improve the health of people and the planet. He also chairs the Board of Trustees for The Royal College of Art USA (RCA USA), and is a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, London. Mr. Russell-Clarke holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design from the Royal College of Art, London and a Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.
“Peter’s design contributions to Apple products, including the iPhone, Apple Stores, and Apple’s new HQ (Apple Park) over the last 17 years speak for themselves,” said Max Haot, CEO. “We look forward to having the chance to bring this incredible experience to the design of our space station products.”
For those interested in learning more about Vast’s space station products, including its first space station, Haven-1, please visit https://www.vastspace.com.
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Certainly a reason exists why the top industrial design team in history is almost extinct at the world’s FIRST 3 Trillion company with the greatest well equipped company digs.
Answer: Bean counter Clueless Cook who values profits OVER award winning designed products that change the world…