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Stafford-educated design guru Sir Jony Ive creates King's coronation emblem

Stafford educated design guru Sir Jony Ive has created an emblem inspired by the King’s “love of the planet, nature, and his deep concern for the natural world” to mark the monarch's coronation.

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Sir Jony Ive and his coronation emblem

Sir Jony designed the iPhone, iPod and Mac, some of the best-loved gadgets of the modern age.

Now he and his creative collective, LoveFrom, have produced the insignia to celebrate Charles’s new reign.

It features a stylised image of St Edward’s Crown, which will be used to crown the monarch, created from the rose of England, thistle of Scotland, daffodil of Wales and the shamrock of Northern Ireland, in the red, white and blue of the Union flag.

King Charles III coronation
The new coronation emblem by Sir Jony Ive and his creative collective LoveFrom (Buckingham Palace/PA)

Sir Jony was educated at Walton High School in Stafford. His family moved from Essex to Staffordshire during the early 1980s when his father swapped his job as a design and technology teacher to become a schools inspector.

He joined Apple in 1992 and is known for shaping Apple’s signature rounded, stylish designs. He left Apple in 2019 to start his own design firm, LoveFrom.

Sir Jony said: “It is such an honour to be able to contribute to this remarkable national occasion, and our team is so very proud of this work.

“The design was inspired by King Charles’s love of the planet, nature, and his deep concern for the natural world.

“The emblem speaks to the happy optimism of spring and celebrates the beginning of this new Carolean era for the United Kingdom.

“The gentle modesty of these natural forms combine to define an emblem that acknowledges both the joyful and profound importance of this occasion.”

The coronation emblem will feature throughout a special bank holiday weekend which will begin when Charles is crowned monarch on Saturday May 6 at Westminster Abbey.

Charles, pictured releasing a turtle into the sea in Malta, has been a life-long environmentalist. Steve Parsons/PA Wire
Charles, pictured releasing a turtle into the sea in Malta, has been a life-long environmentalist (Steve Parsons/PA)

The following day, thousands of spectators – awarded tickets in a national ballot – will watch a star-studded Windsor Castle concert as the celebrations continue.

It will also be seen at other national events, street parties and community gatherings marking the historic event and be used on all official merchandise commemorating the coronation.

Sir Jony has supported projects involving Charles in the past, having designed the layout of the charter document for the royal’s Terra Carta or Earth Charter project launched in 2021.

It was an ambitious Magna Carta-style charter to encourage the private sector to safeguard the planet by adopting sustainability and invest 10 billion dollars (£8 billion) in “natural capital”.

The two men also joined forces in 2021 to encourage students to create high-impact, low-cost solutions to help the world transition to a sustainable future under a project from the Terra Carta Design Lab initiative.