EXCLUSIVE: Jony Ive takes us inside his castle

Cupertino, CA — He’s the guru of design. Champion of good taste. Poster boy for elegance.

Jony Ive may anguish over every little curve in Apple’s design studio, but at home he prefers the elegant curves of an ice cold Pabst.

In an exclusive interview, Apple’s chief designer and igniter of revolutions opened his home to Scoopertino. And the Jony we met could not be more different than the public persona.

“It’s stressful to work under the thumb of a perfectionist like Steve Jobs,” says Jony. “When I get home, the last thing I want to think about is dotting every i and crossing every t.”

Clearly there’s little i-dotting or t-crossing going on at the Ive residence. The house hasn’t seen a coat of paint since the 70s. You could finance your kid’s first year in college by redeeming the cans and bottles littered in the yard.

Touring his estate, Jony caressed his pride and joy — “Betsy,” the ’84 Cutlass he’s owned since he moved to the States. “She run real good till about ’97. Now she’s just waitin’ on a new set of rotors,” he explained.

Inside the house, we saw a more familiar Jony. Pushing aside Betsy’s carburetor to make room on the couch, Jony beamed as he fired up his home theater — a 19-inch Zenith upgraded with coat-hanger and aluminized foil.

“No Apple TV for this bad boy,” he grinned, chewing on his third Slim Jim of the morning. “I leave that stuff at the office.”

Then he became distracted and went silent, staring toward the kitchen. “It’s magical, isn’t it. Timeless,” he said. “You know how to use it before you even touch it.” There, on the kitchen table, sat a brand new can of Spam.