IAN CALLUMJAGUAR DIRECTOR OF DESIGN
You knew at the age of three that you wanted to design cars. How did you turn the dream into reality?
It became such a focus that other things became less important and, hence, less of a distraction. I was never great at cricket, football or rugby. I was fixated on cars and drawing and, at 18, realised that was all I could do, so thought I’d better stick to it. And that was the hard bit.
At school, I wanted to study engineering and art, but in those days sciences and the arts did not cross. When I was 17, there wasn’t a lot around in terms of industrial design courses – the discipline was just starting to find its place in the UK around then. I found a course at Glasgow School of Art, which is one of the most creative places ever – I had some amazing times there. I was holding back the tears when I read about the recent fire there, it broke my heart.
After Glasgow I wanted to specialise, but there were only two car design courses in the world – one in London and one in LA. I wanted to go to LA and got an endorsement from the chief of Vauxhall Design, Wayne Cherry, who has since become a good friend, but my local education authority grant wouldn’t cover the costs involved in studying abroad. I did, however, manage to get sponsored by
