Jonathan Ive, Apple’s head of design, knighted in the UK

Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of industrial design, was knighted in the UK on Wednesday for his contributions to industrial design, BBC News reported. 

The 45-year-old British designer told the BBC that receiving the honor was "really thrilling and particularly humbling." 

This is not Sir Jonathan Ive's first honor, however: he was awarded the title of Knight Commander of the British Empire last December, according to the Mac Observer, and was given the title of Commander of the British Empire in 2005.

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The UK Design Museum also named him Designer of the Year in 2003, and Sir Ive received the United States' National Design Award in 2007, Mac Observer reported. 

Sir Ive, who is now based in San Francisco, flew to Britain from the US with his wife and eight-year-old twin sons to receive the honor, which was bestowed upon him by the Princess Royal at Buckingham Palace, the Guardian reported. 

Ive was born in Chingford, east London, and studied at Newcastle Polytechnic. He founded the design studio Tangerine with three friends in 1988, and Apple was one of their clients, BBC News reported. They were so impressed with his work they hired him full-time in 1992, and Ive has headed their design team since 1996.

The British designer is responsible for the sleek all-in-one packaging unique to Apple’s products, and his design credits include the iPod, iPad, iPhone, and iMac, according to the Washington Post. The company's late CEO Steve Jobs had described Ive as his "spiritual partner," according to the BBC. 

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“All I’ve ever wanted to do is design and make; it’s what I love doing. It’s great if you can find what you love to do. Finding it is one thing but then to be able to practice that and be preoccupied with that is another,” Ive, who notoriously grants few interviews, told the Telegraph's Shane Richmond. “I’m very aware of an incredible tradition in the UK of designing and making, and so to be recognized in this way is really wonderful.”

Sir Peter Bazalgette, the 59-year-old head of the TV company behind hit show Big Brother, was also honored on Wednesday for his contributions to broadcasting, according to the BBC. 

When asked by Richmond which Apple design he'd most like to be remembered for, Sir Ive replied: “It’s a really tough one. A lot does seem to come back to the fact that what we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done, and so it would be what we’re working on right now, which of course I can’t tell you about.”

Ah, the intrigue continues.