Jaguar's Award-Winning Designer Leaves Company After 20 Years

Jaguar today announced that Ian Callum, Director of Design, is to leave his position at the company after two decades heading up Jaguar Design. Julian Thomson, currently Creative Design Director, has been appointed to the role of Director of Design, effective July 1.

Since joining Jaguar in 1999, Ian has built a world-class creative design team, established a new design philosophy and revived the range with award-winning designs. These include F-Type – Jaguar’s first two-seater sports car since the iconic E-type, the XE, XF and XJ saloons, and the marque’s first SUVs, F-PACE, E-PACE, and most recently the all-electric I-PACE, which in April was crowned 2019 World Car of the Year, World Car Design of the Year, and World Green Car.

Ian Callum said: “I have had an incredible career at Jaguar. I came into this role with a mission to take Jaguar design back to where it deserved to be. It has taken 20 years, but I believe I have achieved what I set out to do. Given the strength of both our products and the design team I feel that now is the right time to move on, both personally and professionally, and explore other design projects. Designing Jaguar cars was a lifelong dream for me and I’m delighted to remain involved as a consultant for the brand. I have worked closely with Julian Thomson for 18 years—he is a hugely talented designer and absolutely the right person to lead Jaguar design into its next chapter.”

Ian spent the first 12 years of his career at Ford Design Studios, moving on to become Chief Designer of TWR Design, where he was responsible for the Aston Martin DB7, Vanquish, and DB9. Widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost automotive design talents, in 2005 Ian was awarded the title of Royal Designer for Industry from the RSA. In 2014 he received the Minerva Medal–the highest accolade bestowed by the Chartered Society of Designers, awarded for a lifetime’s achievement in design.