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Paint it Red: the most stunning designs from Jony Ive and Marc Newson's charity auction

red mac pro
red mac pro

After nearly two years in the making, a charity auction orchestrated by Jony Ive, Bono, and designer Marc Newson is set to begin this Saturday. While Apple has worked with Bono's Product Red charity in the past, Saturday's auction takes Ive's involvement much further: working with Newson, the two curated and customized over 40 different items, from chairs, to cars, to Apple products, all of which will go up for sale.

The auction is being run by Sotheby's, and is expected to raise over $2 million toward battling AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. "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," Ive says in a statement. In fact, we actually ran into Ive at the exhibit. He didn't share the secrets behind curating such an eclectic, yet coherent collection, but he did say "It took a long time. It was hard work."

Every item up for auction has either been selected by the duo of designers, customized by them, or completely created by them. The final category includes a stunning Leica camera that's been completely remade with a freckled aluminum design that screams of Ive's touch. The pair created an incredibly sleek and slim metal desk as well, which is marked by stonelike imprints along its top.

"Each piece represents the value of thoughtful design," Ive says. The collection of items is certainly eclectic, ranging from lamps to a cosmonaut suit, but Ive suggests that there's a coherency to looking at it as a whole: "What we create for each other is not only a comment on our culture, but of course in many ways defines it."

Nearly all of the products are now on exhibition at Sotheby's in New York, where they can be viewed until 5PM today and between 10AM and 1PM tomorrow. Below, you can see some of the most stunning, most intriguing, and most exciting objects that'll be up for auction Saturday night.

Jony Ive and Marc Newson's Red Auction at Sotheby's

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