Marc Newson embryo chair (courtesy ivarhagendoorn.com)

“Last month Apple proudly announced it had hired Australian-born aesthetic guru Marc Newson [creator of the “embryo chair” above] to join the tech company’s legendary stable of designers,” businessweek.com‘s Paul Barrett reports. “He’s about to come out with a decidedly low-tech masterpiece: a high-end engraved shotgun to be produced by the Italian firearm manufacturer Beretta.” Specifically . . .

A variation of Beretta’s 486 Parallelo 12-gauge side-by-side. What’s the connection?

“Its round action contains only very few straight lines,” Beretta’s website observes, “and looks like it has grown organically together with the stock into something harmonious and beautiful. To the outside, the lines of the action are also complemented by English-style scroll engraving, which also extends to the top lever and trigger-guard.”

We eagerly await the scattergun’s November 13 unveil. Meanwhile, as Barrett correctly points out, Apple is bound to get blowback for their decision to hire someone in the firearm biz to create products for the touchy-feely set – despite or because of the fact that Newson was working on the gun before Apple hired him.

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20 COMMENTS

  1. ““Its round action contains only very few straight lines,” Beretta’s website observes, “and looks like it has grown organically together with the stock into something harmonious and beautiful.”

    Well now we know that there’s someone out there that can describe a shotgun like it’s a designer gown.

      • Double guns and O/U’s are more reliable than either pumps or semi-auto’s in shotguns.

        This is one of the reasons why they’re the the overwhelming choice in clay games where money is on the line.

    • Yeah like the M4. My personal favorite Italian home defense touchy feely. Italians go to extremes on both the functional end and the aesthetic end and that sometimes breaks new ground and other times just breaks.

    • The article dose not say anything about designers nor techie types. The predicted backlash it expected from the consumers. Most apple consumers are decidedly not techie other than wanting a highly regarded commodity. Nine out of ten antis are apple owners no doubt. I know well enough that techie types tend to have strong ideas concerning personal liberty, often including guns.

      • My co worker introduced me to firearms. He invited me with 5 other workers who shoot regularly once a month at our local range. We have a small network of shooters in our company and we shoot the bs at lunch about the latest news in the firearm industry. My boss is a regular hunter as well and has an awesome brag book. By the way, we all work at Apple.

    • There are surprisingly many gun folks here in Silicon Valley. A few of the big tech companies have sponsored shooting clubs for employees. My employer pays for a range outing once a month including free admission, gun rentals and ammo. We’re not all a bunch of pussies.

      Now, the vast majority of people in tech would shit their pants if they saw a real gun. The funny thing is that love their Nerf guns. I’ve actually converted a few into full blown gun nuts.

  4. After reading that, why do I feel like I’m missing something when I look at Beretta’s picture of the 486 Parallelo?

  9. I guess the two things that I find distracting about this gun are:

    1. The straight grip stock on a single-trigger gun. It looks odd. I would prefer a semi-pistol grip with a single trigger, or a double trigger option be offered.

    2. It appears to my eye (from the Beretta web site photos) that the barrels have an ever-so-slight flair at the muzzle to contain the changeable chokes. This distracts from the lines of the gun.

    It would be nice if they offered an option to color case the receiver and forearm hangar.

    On the upside, Beretta says that they’re using leaf springs instead of coil springs. That’s nice and classic. The stock is hand-rubbed oil finished. The monoblock join is invisible. The weight is at a nice point, which means it probably swings nicely.

  12. I hope the result is something much more functional than that “chair”. The purpose of a chair is to sit in it, and that is obviously one of the most uncomfortable chairs ever made.

    Never forget that the first purpose of a gun is as a tool. It should easily and comfortably WORK, then you can add a little something to make it look good. Example Given, the Beretta 92 pistol. I do not have high hopes for a gun designed by an artist, who cares more about aesthetics than functionality.

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