Apple to Revamp Its Stores

Apple is in the process of redesigning its stores, drawing on the design expertise of Jony Ive.

Ive, Apple’s head designer, revealed he is working with retail boss Angela Ahrendts on a revamp of its stores in a lengthy profile with the New Yorker magazine.

According to an excerpt: “Apple had not, overnight, become an élite-oriented company — and it would sell seventy-five million iPhones in the final quarter of 2014, many of them in China — but I wondered how rational, and pure of purpose, one can make the design of a V.I.P. area. Ive later told me that he had overheard someone saying, ‘I’m not going to buy a watch if I can’t stand on carpet.’”

As Apple’s senior vice president of design, Ive has emerged as the company’s creative soul, continuing an aesthetic tradition set by co-founder Steve Jobs. Ive was responsible for the build and the finish of the iMac, the MacBook, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad and the forthcoming Apple Watch.

Ahrendts, who is often credited with turning around the luxury retailer Burberrys, was hired at a stunning $73 million to revitalize Apple’s stores.

A company spokesperson declined to provide additional details about the timing of the redesign, or its scope.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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