Jonathan Ive on the importance of a designer's physical connection with their materials:

Our goal has always been to try to create objects that are as beautiful as they are functional, as elegant as they are useful. Our physical designs are informed by our passion for materials and processes based on an experience we have gained by actually making things ourselves. Surprisingly fewer and fewer designers, regardless of their particular discipline, are interested in the detail of how something is made. With a father who is a fabulous craftsman I was raised with the fundamental belief that it’s only when you personally work a material with your hands that you come to understand its true nature, its characteristics, its attributes and critically of course it’s potential. I’ve always believed that it’s terribly important to understand the physical world and real objects, not purely digital representations.

So much to treasure in Ive's speech.