The value of an iPhone or an iPad is not the object itself, despite the price tag. The value is the information held within it: the photos, the friend updates, the news articles, all accessible with the swipe of a finger. The object itself is designed with that in mind: sleek, smooth, and above all simple, so that what’s inside defines the experience.

The device’s architect is much like that himself: introverted and, to the vast majority of people who carry one of his creations, all but invisible. But inside Apple’s tightly guarded design studios, Jonathan Ive is complex and powerful, much like the inner workings of an iPhone.

Apple’s senior vice-president of industrial design is in charge of shaping its smooth metal laptops, candy-coloured iPods and slick white iPads, the latest version of which was unveiled this week in San Francisco, where he sat quietly on the sidelines.