Ian Callum, Jaguar’s design director, bags prestigious UK award

Ian Callum, Jaguar’s Director of Design, has won the Designer of the Year Award after taking the number one position in The Drum’s second annual Designerati – a list celebrating the top 100 most influential individuals in UK design.

The expert panel of judges decided Ian is this year’s most influential UK designer finishing top ahead of Maggie Hodgetts, Head of Graphic Design at Waitrose and Christopher Bailey, Chief Creative Officer at Burberry in second and third place respectively.

Stephen Lepitak, editor of The Drum, said: "Ian Callum is a visionary of British design. From his roots at Ford in the 1970s, to his craftsmanship on Aston Martin, his influence on car design is legendary. His beautifully simple designs, including the 2013 Jaguar F-Type and the new XF, unveiled last month, have ushered in a new era for Jaguar, breathing life into the classic brand. Ian's dedication to innovation, his eye for detail and his strong vision for what Jaguar cars should look like truly represent the best of design in the UK."

Ian Callum, Jaguar’s Director of Design, said: “It is an honour to reach the number one position in the Designerati list. For an automotive designer to claim this award is very special indeed – especially considering the depth and array of talented UK designers across the disciplines of architecture, fashion and graphic design. 

“Being ranked number one and winning The Drum's Designer of the Year Award is testament to the fantastic team at Jaguar I’m privileged to work with every day.”

Individuals on the Designerati list are judged on their overall career successes to date and highlights over the preceding 12 months as well as general involvement in the industry as a whole.

Ian’s career includes time at Ford, where he worked on the Escort Cosworth, and Aston Martin where he was key to the design of the DB7, DB9 and Vanquish. The first examples of Jaguar’s design direction under Callum were the luxury XK grand tourer, the XF saloon and XF Sportbrake, XJ saloon car and the two-seater F-Type sports car. September 2014 saw the launch of an all-new Jaguar model line in the form of the XE, followed closely in March 2015 by the introduction of the second-generation XF.

Since joining Jaguar in 1999, Ian and his team have created striking concept cars such as the R-Coupe, RD-6, C-X17 and the C-X75, recently announced as featuring in the 24^th Bond movie, Spectre due out later this year.

This is Ian’s second major honour within six months after he was awarded the Minerva Medal by the Chartered Society of Designers for his outstanding contribution to automotive design.