Richard Turley creates a characteristically hilarious cover inspired by Jonathan Ive

Richard Turley has created a characteristically hilarious (but also visually striking) cover for the latest issue of Volkskrant Magazine. Presented as if shot against a colorama in a photography studio, the cover shows a naked body contorted and completely bent double, accompanied by a speech bubble exclaiming “I have an idea”. We got in touch with Richard to find out how this image, commissioned by Volkskrant’s art director Jaap Biemans, came about.

“Jaap asked me to do a cover on creativity,” he recounts, “ the next day I was walking to work, eating my Pret [a Manger] croissant and decided that, in order to really understand creativity, I first needed to immerse myself in one whose creativity surpasses all others. I could think of no other than our beloved Lord Jony Ive – the most creative telephone designer of our age.”

From here, Richard imagined a surprising and altogether elaborate scene involving Jonathan Ive while walking along West 3rd – “I did all this while eating my croissant by the way,” he adds.

The scene begins with Jony in the back of his chauffeur-driven Bentley, his apple pencil in hand, before exiting his car to retreat to “his beautifully appointed office with his soothing collection of rare modernist furniture,” not before passing a sea of “design minions” who were awaiting his arrival.

Once inside, “he is in full creative mode, he is naked to his own thoughts,” Richard explains, “but maybe not naked enough.” The designer, therefore, removes his clothes and “submits himself to creativity.” He begins moving, left and right before bending forward: “He throws his body into wild incantations, spinning round and round, pirouetting, leaping, he contorts himself into his most vulnerable of positions, his body doubles, he unites with himself in a wild, single, elegant move.”

As the chief design officer of Apple lands with his feet firmly on the ground, the camera clicks. “That. Is my cover. Creativity in action,” Richard concludes.