As far as causes go, The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has to be a pretty good one, and with names like Bono, Sir Jony Ive and Marc Newson, CBE involved in a charity auction for said cause, it was always going to be a success. Though, we suspect the results may have exceeded everyone’s hopes by some way.
Up for auction was a collection of items chosen by Ive and Newson based on their exceptional design, with those products ranging from a typewriter to a Range Rover and with all manner of awesomeness in-between.
Speaking of the auction, Ive said:
It’s been a fantastic honor to curate this collection of objects with Marc for the auction at Sotheby’s. Each piece represents the value of thoughtful design. What we create for each other is not only a comment on our culture but of course in many ways defines it. (RED) is making a difference in the lives of millions of people and we’re humbled to make this contribution to such an important and worthy cause.
So just how popular was the auction? Well, around $13,000,000 popular after the combined lots raked in an astronomical amount of money for charity. One of the most popular items was a Jony Ive-designed Leica M camera, bringing in a whopping $1.8 million on its own. That’s not the only lot that Ive had his fingerprints on either, with a special Product (RED) Mac Pro fetching just shy of a million dollars and a pair of rose gold Earpods selling for just under half a million.
All of the lots available in the auction outdid their expected selling price, which has to be a great result for the organizers. In fact, the whole shebang was such a success that someone even paid over $1.6 million for a desk that Ive and Newson co-designed. We’d argue it’s not the nicest desk in the world either, so someone must have been really keen to give some money to charity there!
Still, it’s all for a good cause, and if you can splash a million or two on a desk, then we’re fairly sure you’re doing OK for yourself anyway.
(source: Sotheby’s)
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