One-of-a-Kind Products Designed by Jony Ive and Designer Marc Newson Sold Off at (RED) Auction

[Chalkperson]

There is another point here, it's Newson not Ive who is the more famous designer, his aluminum sofas (there are three) sell for more than a million bucks, so a one off, with Ive collaborating, is very valuable to a collector, charity or not...

Ive just designs for Apple, Newson has done everything from car to a boat and everything in-between...

 

[ChrisA]

So basically what they want is government bureaucrats deciding where money should go. Because they've done such a great job in the past managing the people's money. :roll eyes:

We'd hope it is legislators not bureaucrats making the important decisions. Do you have a better way to distribute public resources? It is obvious there is a need to distribute pensions to old folks, build schools and airports and so

 

[Rogifan]

According to Vanity Fair, Tim Cook and Laurene Powell Jobs were at the auction. I wonder if one of them were buyers.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/11/red-auction-sothebys-bono

 

[gnasher729]

Some of the comments on this thread disgust me. Charity auctions raise a TON of money and do it by making charity a social event for the rich. You're taking an item that is worth significantly less, allowing people to bid on it which raises the value through the roof and donating that to charity. How is that a bad thing?

The only objection that I would have against that kind of auction is that the people who donate to a good cause end up having less than those who don't, even though the clearly deserve their wealth more.

 

[nostresshere]

Every single penny will be tax deducted.

Lets take the $977,000 the rich guy has in his pocket. He can do one of two things.

A)
$977,000 to charity and saves $293k in taxes

Or

B)
Nothing to charity, pays the $293,000 in taxes to Uncle Sam and keeps the other $684k for himself?

 

[Wiesenlooser]

I hate to say this but these are some rather weak designs for two world-famous designers.

I don't like that they talked sooo much about this project and how great of designers they were.
How special they are they see things that other designers wouldn't see. Bla...

 

[Rogifan]

I hate to say this but these are some rather weak designs for two world-famous designers.

I don't like that they talked sooo much about this project and how great of designers they were.
How special they are they see things that other designers wouldn't see. Bla...

Sure raised a lot of $$$ for weak designs. Oh and according to Red, the Bill Gates foundation matched the amount raised so the total was $26.2M.

 

[DotCom2]

A lot of the poorer underclass detest the rich. But given the chance, would jump at it in a heart beat! And so it goes...

 

[scoobydoo99]

You don't even know who bought it, yet you are trying to explain how the way they made their money was wrong and it is a bad thing that they donated some of it to charity. What is wrong with you?

I make no assumptions about the person who won the auction. I was commenting on another post regarding the general state of wealth accumulation today.

Well… I had a long, thoughtful reply, but the commenting system just ate it. It suffices to say that the current situation with the US government is a pretty good demonstration of why this kind of viewpoint will rarely lead to any actual progress towards a solution.

Please, MacRumors, this is why down-votes are a good thing. Judging from the responses there are at least as many people who disagree with this comment as there are who have up-voted it. I really don't need to see shallow, hateful statements like this showing up as top rated comments.

First you say my viewpoint won't lead to progress towards a solution, then you say my point is "shallow and hateful". Which is it? We need a solution or we don't? Hateful to whom? The ruling elite?

Your comment about "the current situation with the U.S. government" somehow proving that my viewpoint won't lead to progress is perplexing. The current state of the U.S. government and U.S. corporations is exactly BECAUSE we have a tiny elite class that runs everything for their own benefit - how does my position against that somehow enable the opposite?

 

[Nevaborn]

I am pleased these products I found personally very appealing raised so much for good causes.

People need to stop being so bitter.

 

[DJJAZZYJET]

I hope that Red Mac Pro comes fully specced out!

 

[joepunk]

Out of all of the items in that Lot I would most like to have the "ZVEZDA" COSMONAUT SUIT WORN ON A SOVIET SPACE AGENCY MISSION INTO SPACE

 

[Kissaragi]

Out of all of the items in that Lot I would most like to have the "ZVEZDA" COSMONAUT SUIT WORN ON A SOVIET SPACE AGENCY MISSION INTO SPACE

That would be cool, not quite sure where id put it tho!

 

[scoobydoo99]

Comment boards on most websites like Business Insider, Yahoo, cnet etc. just prove how awful the education system is.

Actually, I think they prove how well it works. The education system, just like the political and entertainment industries, work hard to perpetuate a world view that ignores history, ethics, and common sense to maintain the status quo for the elite. The education system drills it into kids that if you work hard, get an education, vote, and follow the rules of the system - you, too, can someday be rewarded by our capitalist system! Not rich? You're not working hard enough!

Because the education system does such a good job of teaching kids NOT to question the immoral acts of corporations and governments, you end up with comment boards on the sites you mention filled with posts from people defending the current system and calling the rest of us "lazy" or "whiners" or "those kooky Occupy folks".

Propaganda is powerful. It is subtle. It is not recognized as propaganda because it is entrenched in every aspect of our society. And it is the reason that million of otherwise decent, thoughtful people will defend our corporate masters to the day they die.

 

[Macbmw]

Welcome to planet earth

Only the stupendously wealthy can afford to spend cash like this to buy one-off trinkets to impress their friends.
Good cause? Call me cynical, but isn't it the greed of the stupendously wealthy that causes the uneven distribution of wealth that leads to poverty and hardship in poorer parts of the world (devastation of rain forests for cattle raising, abuse of workers for cheap electronic manufacturing, private ownership of freshwater supplies etc).
The 'saintly' folk who bought these goods will no doubt get a massive tax break on these charitable purchases, and alleviate any guilty feelings (if they are indeed capable of such an emotion) connected with the origins of their income.

Welcome to planet earth my friend. I wish I have all that money. In addition, this is an act of tax deduction with pleasure. I wonder if my MacPlus with Jobs and Apple's employee signature on the computer case would sale for $160m. I will be mortgage free. LOL. Like I said before, WELCOME TO PLANET EARTH. Lol.

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

The table is going to look really nice in my office. Once it's delivered to me, I'll use the Leica to take a picture and post it here.

That Mac Pro will look nicely on that table too. Maybe get it anodized the same color and take a pic for us then.

 

[Wiesenlooser]

Sure raised a lot of $$$ for weak designs. Oh and according to Red, the Bill Gates foundation matched the amount raised so the total was $26.2M.

Might be because they are One-of-A-Kind Products from famous designers? Even objects that were simply owned by famous celebrities can raise a lot of money. does this make these objects in any way superior?

i don't think the products are bad... but I was kind of expecting more when two of the greatest living designers on earth work together. I don't know but the outcomes were a bit... predictive?

 

[WilliamG]

Only the stupendously wealthy can afford to spend cash like this to buy one-off trinkets to impress their friends.
Good cause? Call me cynical, but isn't it the greed of the stupendously wealthy that causes the uneven distribution of wealth that leads to poverty and hardship in poorer parts of the world (devastation of rain forests for cattle raising, abuse of workers for cheap electronic manufacturing, private ownership of freshwater supplies etc).
The 'saintly' folk who bought these goods will no doubt get a massive tax break on these charitable purchases, and alleviate any guilty feelings (if they are indeed capable of such an emotion) connected with the origins of their income.

Thank you for your cynical comment as you trudge toward wealth each and every day. Envy is not a becoming trait.

 

[Rogifan]

There's way too much self-congratulatory attention to Apple design the last couple years. I think Steve must have kept a lid on things and now that he is dead people have been taking a lot of liberties. Apple doesn't have the class that they once did. The design of their products has gone downhill a lot. iOS7 would have never been approved by Steve. None of the current iPods would have been approved by him. The quality of OSX has even gone downhill, as I have had far more issues with it on my Retina MBP in 1.5 years than I did in all the rest of my 8 years of using Macs put together.

It's all just very disappointing. Seeing a company lose what was great about it. All for ego. That's how things appear, at least. This "Designed by Apple" and all the talk about the individual people who work within the company. It's just low class. The products aren't as good as they used to be, yet instead of working on that, you've got all this other kind of famous celebrity brand name designer crap.

Apple, get your act together if it's at all possible. Maybe it isn't without Steve. Maybe you guys needed him to make the right decisions. But you gotta try, because things are coming apart.

I guess you'll need to send your concerns the board since both Tim Cook and Steve Jobs wife attended this event last night. Clearly they're encouraging this ego culture you detest.

 

[jonathanlking]

I don't seem to understand the logic used in most of these comments.

Firstly not all rich people are 'evil' and not all their money comes from illicit or unscrupulous activities. That is a mass generalisation, like saying all Muslims are terrorists and is totally not true. Most rich people have worked hard for their money.
Secondly it is their money, and they should be able to spend it how they want. Even if you think it is just and overpriced 'pedal bin' the point is it is up to them. Plus at a charity auction everything is meant to be overpriced, that is exactly the point!
Thirdly to those of you saying they only do it for tax relief, if you understand how it works you will know that the individual does not profit form it, only the charity. While you may argue that you as citizens are losing out as there is less overall tax paid, it is those same 'evil' rich people who are actually paying most of the tax.

Finally I think most of your are missing the point. Loads of money has been donated to charity which otherwise wouldn't have been and it is hard to argue that ending HIV/AID's is not a worthy cause.

 

[FloatingBones]

And not only that it is great eye opener it also received Oscar for the best documentary.

Oh, please. Ever since Hoop Dreams didn't even get an Academy Award nomination, it was clear that Hollywood's whole process is highly political and inherently corrupt. Just read about the brain-dead flashlight voting that the Academy used to use. If you want to read about a real inside job, look at the massive corruption around the whole AA process.

Argo was a cute film, but it never ever should have been nominated for an AA. The events of this drama fail a fact-check. No thinking committee-member should have ever considered this fictional nonsense.

 

[drummingcraig]

Damn, I was hoping to be able to afford that Mac Pro!

You could buy 300+ Mac Pros for the same price, then create Skynet and send a T-800 out to retrieve it for you.

 

[NoneOfYourB]

Every single penny will be tax deducted.

Not sure if buying something counts as charity donation.

 

[ma2ha3]

so much money? what is the entrepreneur waiting for, take apart the new mac pro and paint it red and anodizing it. Like printing money.

 

[atlatnesiti]

I hate to say this but these are some rather weak designs for two world-famous designers.

I don't like that they talked sooo much about this project and how great of designers they were.
How special they are they see things that other designers wouldn't see. Bla...

Fantastic project and fantastic outcome, but...
How is slapping red paint on Mac Pro makes it different, redesign? I don't think so. How long did it take to do it (design it)? 5 seconds? Maybe the red paint is "magical"... If Johnny made it square or something, I could understand, but all of theses products are identical to the original + new paint job...
Woopy doo...