Ian Callum, who is the Director of Design at Jaguar, has been named one of TopGear (UK) magazine’s Men of the Year 2012. Callum was selected by the magazine's awards judging panel for “designing beautiful cars, again and again.” The new accolade adds another feather to Callum's cap, who has so far achieved a lot of fame this year for designing the new Jaguar F-TYPE two-seater sports car, which was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in September, this year.
TopGear, in its latest issue writes about Callum's achievements, where it says, “The genius of Jaguar Director of Design Ian Callum isn’t just in the classically exact proportions of his cars, it’s in the way they continue to intrigue and inspire long after the initial novelty has worn off.” It further reads, “In 2012 the erudite Scotsman… cemented his iconic status with the F-TYPE, ironically as classic a Jaguar as there’s been since Callum arrived there 12 years ago. Who else could have penned such a worthy successor to the E-Type.”
Talking about his selection, Callum said, “It’s an honour to be singled out by TopGear as one of their ‘Men of the Year,’ the magazine is respected internationally for its insight and its enthusiasm for all aspects of cars and motoring. However, it is with the benefit of having such a great team around me that we have been able to deliver the cars and designs that define Jaguar today, so they, too, deserve recognition for what we are achieving together.”
Ever since the introduction of Aston Martin DB7, Callum shot to fame and is considered the world's foremost design talents. Callum, who was born in Dumfries, Scotland, went to Industrial Design at Glasgow School of Art and then enrolled at the Royal College of Art for a two-year course in Automobile Design.
Looking at Callum's excellent performance at the RCA, Ford recruited him immediately and from 1978, he worked with the US Company in designing vehicles for 12 years. He worked at company's design studios in different parts of the world, including Britain, Japan, Australia, the United States and Germany. Callum was then appointed Design Manager and was given charge of the Ghia Design Studio in Turin. He worked there for sometime and later in 1990 joined TWR in Oxford as Chief designer.
During his tenure with Ford, Ian Callum worked on the company's Escort Cosworth and Ford RS200 model. When he was associated with Ghia in Turin, he played a significant role in the Via Design concept, apart from playing a major role in the development of the GhiaZig and Zag, which are compact 2-seater sports car and mini van vehicles, respectively.
Ever since his return to the UK in 1990, Callum has worked with many companies on a large number of projects, which include TWR programmes for General Motors' Australian subsidiary, Holden. Apart from this he also worked on projects for Aston Martin (DB7 and Vanquish), Volvo (C70), Ford (Puma), Nissan (R390 Le Mans) and, then on Aston Martin DB9.
Though Ian joined Jaguar in 1999, he apart from directing Design there, continued to manage Aston Martin Design and developed DB9. He and his team at Jaguar created designs for many cars including the R-Coupe, RD-6, C-X75 & C-X16 Concepts. His designs marked the beginning of an exciting new era at Jaguar and each of his car takes the design theme a step ahead. Among the new models designed by Ian are XK, followed by the XF and XJ model. The latest Jaguar car designed by him is the new two-seater sports car, the F-TYPE.
Ian, who has been considered as one of the design talents of the world, continues to lead a team of talented designers at the Jaguar Design Studios. Ian has so far been honoured with five doctorate degrees from universities located all around the world. Apart from this he has also received Royal Designer for Industry (RDI) award from the Royal Society of Art (RSA).
