Leica Camera Prototype Designed By Jony Ive & Marc Newson To Go Up For Auction
Image via Leitz Photographica Auction, LEICA CAMERA CLASSICS
You might own every Apple product designed by Jony Ive, but here’s one tech toy by the innovator that you’d have to fight the others for. This June, the Leica-owned Leitz Photographica Auction house will put up a “very special prototype” of the (RED) Leica Camera designed by Ive and fellow design extraordinaire Marc Newson, and only one will be for sale.
The preliminary design depicts the “final development step” of the partnership, which involved the experimentation of “hundreds” of materials, before the special-edition (RED) camera came to be. Only one unit of the actual camera was ever manufactured—it was sold for US$1.8 million in 2013—making this piece extremely rare, as well.
The prototype, modeled after the Leica M Rangefinder, takes on distinctive styles representative of the two designers. It features a minimalist white aluminum body, chrome elements, and rounded edges, along with a matching Apo-Summicron 2/50 mm ASPH. lens.
Image via Leitz Photographica Auction, LEICA CAMERA CLASSICS
In contrast, the finalized, one-off camera, shown directly below, is covered in a laser-machined anodized mesh band with 21,000 perforations, as well as the Leica red dot logo.
The prototype will be placed on auction on 12 June in Vienna at Leica’s annual auction. While it will bear a starting price of €100,000 (US$118,000), Leica estimates it will sell for at least double that amount.
Image via Leitz Photographica Auction, LEICA CAMERA CLASSICS
Image via Leitz Photographica Auction, LEICA CAMERA CLASSICS
Image via Leitz Photographica Auction, LEICA CAMERA CLASSICS
[via Robb Report, images via Leitz Photographica Auction, LEICA CAMERA CLASSICS]
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